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• -' THE 

PRIDE 

OF BRITANNIA HUMBLEB; 

OR, THE 

QUEEJ^ OF r/fE OCEAjy UjYqUEE^"n, 

<' BY THE AMERICAN COCK BOATS," 

Or, ** The Fir built Tilings, with bits of Striped Bunting at their Mast Heads."— < As the 
Riglit Hon« Mr. Canning, in the British parliament, culled our American Frigates.) 

Illustrated and Demonstrated 

BY FOUR LETTERS ADDRESSED TO LORD LIVERPOOL, 

ON THE LATE AMERICAN WAR. 



BY WM.tjOBBETT, ESQ. 

laci <ding a number of his other most Imiiortant Letters, and arguments, in Defence of 
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 

To which is added, 
A GLIMPSE 

OF THE AMERICAN VICTORIES, 

On LAND, on (lie LAKES, and on the OCEAN. 
WITH A PERSUASIVE TO POLITICAL MODERATION. 

Most respectfully addressed to the Persons comi)osing the two great Parties in the United 
States in general, and to the politicians of CONNECTICUT and MASSACHUSETTS, 

ju Particular. 

Ji .YEW EDITIOjX. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

Publiihed by Willitm Re>Tiolds,— Daniel Griffin, New York;— J. Campbell, Baltimorej"" 
and P. Boyle, New Jersey. 

1815. 
A. Griggs (Jy K. Dickinson,— Printers, Wliilehall. 



( 4 ) 

pie" know nothing of. They have opinions fur- 
nished them by others as regularly as soldiers or sai- 
lors are served with rations. The lower class are, 
from their poverty, wholly without the pale of infor- 
mation, true or false, and appear to know and care 
as little about the acts of the government, and the 
state of pubhc affairs, as the earth, or any other sub- 
stance, on which they expend their time and their 
physical force. The middle class are so incessant- 
ly employed in pursuit of the means of keeping 
themselves from the horrors of pauperism, that they 
have no time for discussion or inquiry. Many per- 
sons, in this class of life, have asked me, whether 
the Americans could speak Ejiglish, Few men in 
the higher ranks of life know any thing worth speak- 
ing of, with regard to the American republic, a na- 
tion nearly equal in population to Great Britain, and 
inhabited, as we now feel, by men full as enterpris- 
ing and as brave as our own soldiers and sailors. 
Even the writers who have fanned the flame of this 
bloody war, know nothing at all about the real state 
of America ; for, though they have no desire to 
promulgate truth ; though it is their trade to de- 
ceive and cheat the people, they show, by their 
statements, that they are ignorant of facts, which, if 
they knew them, would make them able to deceive 
with less exposure to detection. This being the 
case, it is no wonder that the whole nation is in a state 
of error, as to this matter of primary importance. 
On the day when the news reached the country, re- 
lative to the capture of the city of Washington, I 
happened to call, on my way homewards from Sus- 
sex, at the house of a gentleman, who was as likely 
to be as well informed as any other gentleman in the 
country, as to this or any other political matter. The 
following was the dialogue, wherein I shall exhibit 



( 5 ) 

the o'cntleman and his Q-ood wife iind^r the name of 
Friend. 

Mrs. Friend. Well, Mr. Cobbett, we shall soon 
get rid of the income tax, [for so it is ealled in the 
country] 7iow. 

Mr. Cobbett, Shall we, Madam ? I am very glad 
to hear it. It will enable me to get a better horse 
for my gig. — \_i^ie had just been laughing at mij 
scurvy equipage. ]— But why now. Madam ? What 
has happened to excite such a cheering hope ? 

Mrs. Friend, Why, have you not heard the 
news ? 

Mr. Cobbett, No. 

Mr, Friend, We have taken the capital of Ame- 
rica. 

Mrs. Friend, Auj^ the cowardly dogs, to the 
amount of 9,000 me^ ran away before 1,500 of our 
soldiers. 

Mr. Friend, President and all ran away ! — No- 
body knows where they went to, and the people 
were ready to submit to us all over the country. 

Mrs. Friend, Cowardly dogs ! Not stand to fight 
a moment for their capital. They are a pretty na- 
tion to go to war with England ! 

Mr. Friend, They ran away like a great flock of 
South Down sheep before a pack of hounds. 

Mrs. Friend. The cowardly creatures will never 
dare show their faces again. What can you say for 
these Americans now ? 

Mr. Cobbett. Why, I say, that you appear to 
know no more about them than about the people 
said to be in the moon. Let me look at the paper, 
[/if laid before her o?i the table, ~\ 

Mrs. Friend. No ; we must tell it you. It is too 
long for you to sit and read to yourself. 

Mr. Cobbett. Well ; now mind, I tell you, that, 

A2 



( 6 ) 

instead of putting an end to the war, this event will 
lend to prolong it : and, mind, I tell you, that un- 
less -ive give up what we contend for, that war will 
be of many years duration, and will be as expensive 
and more bloody than the war in Europe has been. 

Mr. Friend, We give up to such cowards as the 
Americans ! 

Mr. Cobbett. I do not mean to ^\t up either ter- 
ritory ox honour, I mean give u|i the point in dis- 
pute ; or, rather, our present appm^ent object. The 
Americans, like other people, cannot meet disciplin- 
ed armies, until they have time to organize and dis- 
cipline themselves. But, the Americans are not 
coivards, Madam. Their seamen have proved that ; 
and, what I fear is, that a continuance of the war 
will make the proof clearer and clearer every day, 
by land as well as by sea ; an^, I am noiv more than 
ever afraid of a long continuation of the war ; be- 
cause, if such people as z/ou sqf^ously think that we 
are able to conquer America, I can have no reason 
to hope that any part of the nation remains unde- 
ceived. 

Mr. Friend. But, do you not think that the states 
will divide ? 

Mr. Cobbett, Certainly not. 

Mr. Friend, No ! 

Mr. Cobbett, No. And I should be glad to know 
what are your reasons for believing that they will 
divide. If you will give me any reasons for your 
belief, I will give you mine for a contrary belief. 
Do you think, madam, that the people of America 
are weary of living for thirty years without an in- 
come tax ? 

Mr. Friend, I have no reasons of my own about 
the matter. We see, in all our papers^ that the 
Americans are a very divided people. They say 
that they cannot long hold together. 



( 7 J 

Mr. Cobbett. And do you really believe what 
these corrupted vagabonds put into their columns ? 
You believe, then, of course, that *' the American 
navy would be swept from the face of the ocean in 
a month ;" for so they told you. — Yet, how differ- 
ent has been the events ! No, no : the Americans 
are not cowards^ madam. 

Mrs. Friend. Have you had such heaps of le- 
mons this year as you used to have ? 

Such was, as nearly as I can recollect, the dia- 
logue on this occasion; and, as I am sure, that the 
war is continued in the hope, on the part of the na- 
tion^ at least, of deriving success from a breaking 
up of the iinioji in America, which I am thorough- 
ly persuaded we shall not effect, or see take place, I 
will endeavour to shew, that this, my persuasion, 
rests on good grounds ; and, if I succeed in this 
endeavour, I shall not yet abandon the hope, to 
w^hich my heart clings, of seeing peace speedily re- 
stored between the two countries, upon terms not 
injurious to the interest or character of either. 

In turning back, now, to the reported speech of 
your lordship I perceive, and I perceive it with regret, 
that you are, by the reporter, made to found your 
opinion of the Americans' disaffection to their govern- 
ment, and of their attachment to our king, in part,- 
upon their having treated our officers, prisoners of 
war, with great liberality and kindness. I noticed 
this in my last number. I challenged any one to 
shew the instance, in which they had ever behaved 
cruelly to prisoners of war. I cited the memorable 
case of Mr. (now Sir Charles) Asgyll, and I appeal- 
ed to their uniform conduct, during the present 
war, including the instances of commodores Bain- 
bridge and Perry. But as the conduct of the for- 
mer, in this respect, has been most basely slandered 



( 8 ) 

ill some of our public prints, I will be somewhat 
more particular as to both instances, adding that oi* 
capt. Lawrence. 

Commodore Bainbridge captured the Java, ofF 
St. Salvadore, on the 29th of December, 1812. — 
His frigate, the Constitution, carried 44 guns, and 
ours 49 guns, according to the American accounts. 
Ours, he says, had upwards of 400 men on board. 
The republicans killed 60 and wounded 170 of our 
officers and men, and had themselves 9 killed and 
25 wounded. After the battle at their pressing re- 
quest, commodore Bainbridge paroled them all. 
The Java had on board lieutenant general Hislop and 
his staff, together with several supernumerary offi- 
cers and men. The following letter of general 
Hislop to commodore Bainbridge will best speak 
for the latter : 

" Dear Sir — I am justly penetrated with the full- 
est sense of your very handsome and kind treat- 
ment, ever since the fate of war placed me in your 
power, and I beg once more to renew to you my 
sincerest acknowledgments for the same. Your 
acquiescence with my request in granting me my pa- 
role, with the officers of my staff, added to the ob- 
ligation I had previously experienced, claims from 
me this additional tribute of my thanks. May I 
now finally flatter myself, that in the further exten- 
sion of your generous and humane feelings, in the 
alleviation of the misfortunes of war, that vou will 
have the goodness to fulfil the only wish and re- 
quest I am now most anxious to see completed, by 
enlarging on their parole (on the same conditions 
you have acceded to with respect to myself) all the 
officers of the Java, still on board your ship — a fa- 
vour I never shall cease duly to appreciate by youf 
acquiescence thereto — 



( 9 ) 

*^ I have the honour to subscribe myself, dear sir, 
your much obliged and very humble servant." 

The request was instantly complied with. — Men 
and all were released upon parole. In the case of 
com. Perry, tlie battle was fought on Lake Eric, on 
the 10th Sept. 1813. With vessels, carrying alto- 
gether 54 guns, he not only defeated, but c;.pturcd 
the whole of our fleet, six vessels, carrying 6.5 guns 
as he stated in his official report ; which report, by 
the ]jye, fully justifies our admiralty as to Lake Erie. 
I take the following paragraph from his report to 
his government upon this occasion : 

*^ I also beg your instructions respecting the 
wounded. I am satisfied, Sir, that whatever steps 
I might take, governed by humanity^ would meet 
your approbation* Under this impression, I have 
taken upon myself to promise capt. Barclay, who is 
very dangerously wounded, that he shall be landed as 
near Lake Ontario as possible, and I had no doubt 
you would allow me to parole him. He is undt r the 
impression that nothing but leaving this part of the 
country will save his life. There are also a number 
of Canadians among the prisoners, many who have 
families.''^ 

Capt. Lawrence, in the brig Hornet, attacked and 
sunk, in fifteen minutes, our brig, the Peacock, 
killing between thirty and forty of our men, while 
the Hornet had only one man killed and two wound- 
ed. — Thus says the American report. Ours I have 
not at hand. Then comes the following letter : 

NeW'York, 21th March, 1813. 

*' Sir — We, the surviving officers of his Britan- 
nic Majesty's late brig Peacock, beg leave to return 
you our grateful acknowledgments for the kind at- 
tent ion arid hospitality we experienced during the 
time we remained on board the United States' sloop 



( 10 ) 

Hornet. So much was done to alleviate the dis- 
tressing and uncomfortable situation in which we 
were placed, when received on board the sloop you 
commanded, that we cannot better express our feel- 
ings than by saying, " JFe ceased to consider our- 
selves prisoners ;" and every thing that friendship 
could dictate was adopted by you, and the officers 
of the Hornet, to remedy the inconvenience we 
would otherwise have experienced from the una- 
voidable loss of the whole of our property and 
clothes by the sudden sinking of the Peacock, Per- 
mit us, then, sir, impressed, as we are, with a grate- 
ful sense of your kindness, for ourselves and the 
other officers and ship's company, to return you 
and the officers of the Hornet our sincere thanks, 
which we shall feel obliged if you will communi- 
cate to them in our name ; and believe us to remain, 
with a high sense of the kind offices you have ren- 
dered us, your humble servants — F. A. Wright, 
1st lieutenant ; C. Lambert, 2d lieutenant ; Ed- 
ward Lott, master ; J. Whitaker, surgeon ; F. 
Donnithrone Unwin, purser. James Lawrence^ 
esq. commander U, S. sloop Hornet,'*^ 

The American papers added, upon this occasion, 
the following : — " It is a fact worthy of note, and 
in the highest degree honourable to our brave tars, 
that on the day succeeding the destruction of his 
Britannic Majesty's brig Peacock, the crew of the 
Hornet made a subscription and supplied the pri- 
soners (who had lost almost every thing) with two 
shirts, a bluejacket and trowsers, each." 

Now, my lord, without going into more particu- 
lars, let me ask you, whether you think that tliis 
conduct towards our officers was the effect of dis- 
affi^ction towards their own government, of disap- 
probation of its conduct, of a hatred of the war, and 



( n ) 

of **a dispositmi to put themselves imder our pro ^ 
tection .^" And, if you answer in the negative, as 
you must, I suppose, why do you think, that the 
humane treatment of our officers elsewhere indi- 
cates such a disposition ? Does your lordship see 
no possible danger in drawing such an inference ? 
Do you think, that it is wholly out of all belief, 
that your being reported to have drawn such an 
inference may render the treatment of our officers, 
prisoners of war, less humane and kind in Riture ? 
• — Seeing that a disposition in an American citizen 
to put himself under the protection of our king is 
a disposition to commit treaso?iy in the eye of the 
laws of his country, would it be so very surprising 
if, in future, the Americans should be very cautious 
how they exposed themselves to the merit of such 
a compliment ? I must, however, do your lordship 
the justice to observe here, that what the proprietors 
of our newspapers have published as i/our speech, 
might never have been uttered by you. — 1 would 
fain hope, that they have, in this case, put forth, 
under your name, the suggestions of their own 
mind. I, therefore, comment on the thing as theirs 
and not as yours- 

In order to show that there is no foundation for 
the hope entertained by people here, and so often 
expressed by our newspapers, of dividing the repub- 
lic of America, I must go into a history of the par- 
ties which exist in that republic ; give an account of 
their origin and progress, and describe their present 
temper and relative force. — The population are di- 
vided into two parties; the republicans and 
FEDERALISTS. The latter also claim the title of 
republicans, but it is, and I think we shall find, 
with justice, denied to them by the former. 

These two panics have, in fact, existed ever 
since the close of the revolutionary war, though their 



( 12 ; 

animosities have never appeared to be so great, nor 
to threaten such serious consequences as since the 
commencement of the French revolution, especially 
since the first presidency of Mr. Jefferson, whose 
exaltation to the chair, was the proof of decided tri- 
umph on the part of the republicans, and plunged 
their opponents into a state of desperation. 

The jedera lists took their name from the general 
government, which being Jederatlve, was called y^- 
deraL Some of the people, as well as some of the 
members of the convention who formed the constitu- 
tion, were for the new general government, and some 
were against it. Those who were against it, and who 
were for a government of a still more democratical 
form, were called, at first, anti-federalists — but, of 
late, they have been called republicans, in opposition 
to the federalists, who were for a government of an 
aristocratical, if not of nearly a kingly form, and who 
proposed, in the convention, a president and senate 
Jbr life. There was at this time a great struggle be- 
tween the parties — the opposition of the republicans 
spoiled the projects of the federalists ; and the go- 
vernment was, at last, of a forlorn nature, which 
was wholly pleasing to neither, but did not on the 
other hand greatly displease either. 

The federalists, however, took the whole credit 
to themselves of having formed the government ; 
and, as general Washington, who had been presi- 
dent of the convention, and was decidedly for a fe- 
derative general government, was elected the presi- 
dent under the new constitution, the federalists at 
once assumed, that they were the only persons who 
had any right or title to have any thing to do with 
that government, treating their opponents as persons 
necessarily hostile to, and, of course, unfit to be 
entrusted with, the carrying on of the federal 
government. 



( 13 ) 

When the first congress met, under the new con- 
stitution, it was clear, that the federalists endea- 
voured to do, by degrees, that which they had not 
been able to accomplish, all at once, in the conven- 
tion. They proposed to address the president by the 
title of his serene highness, and to introduce other 
forms and trappings of royalty, or, at lei\st, of a high 
aristocracy. Their intention was defeated to their 
inexpressible mortification. The people were shock- 
ed at these attempts ; and, from that moment, the 
opposite party seem to have gained ground in the 
confidence of the people, who abhorred the idea of 
any thing that bore a resemblance to kingly govern- 
ment or that seemed to make the slightest approacli 
towards hereditary or family rule. 

When the French revolution broke out ; when 
that great nation declared itself a republic, and went 
even further than America had gone in the road of 
democracy, the two parties took their different sides. 
Heats and animosities were revived. While general 
Washington remained president, however, he acted 
with so much caution and moderation, that it was 
difficult for any one openly to censure him. He 
was blamed by both parties. One wished him to 
take part with France, the other with England. He 
did neither, and upon the whole he left no party any 
good reason to complain of him. But when Mr. 
Adams, who was a native of Massachusetts, where 
the federal party was in great force, became presi- 
dent, he certainly did, yielding to the counsels of 
weak and violent men, push things very nearly to an 
offensive and defensive alliance with us. The vio- 
lent jand unjust proceedings of the French govern- 
ment furnished a pretext for raising an army, which 
was, for some time, kept on foot in time of peace ^ in 
the very teeth of the constitution. A sedition bill 

B 



( 14 ) 

was passed with power of sending aliens out of the 
country ; and many other things were done, in the 
heat of the moment, which Mr. Adams, had he not 
been surrounded by the Massachusetts federalists, 
never Avould have thought of, being a republican 
at heart, and a real friend to the liberties of his 
country. 

Mr, Adams's presidency ended in March, 1800. 
He was proposed to be re-elected; but he lost his 
election, and the choice fell upon Mr. Jefferson, who 
had always been deemed the head of the repubhcan 
party. The truth is, that iht people were republi- 
cans. Every thing had been tried ; threats, alarms, 
religion, all sorts of schemes ; but they took alarm 
at nothing but the attempts upon their liberty, and 
they hurled down the party who had made those at- 
tempts. vSince that time, the government has been 
in the hands of the republicans. Mr. Jefferson was 
president for eight years, Mr. Madison for four 
years, and is now^ going on for the second four 
years. 

Your lordship knows, as well as any man upon 
earth, how fond people are oi place dx\Ci poxver ; and 
that no part of any opposition is so bitter and trou- 
blesome as that part, which consists of men, whose 
anibitious hopes may have been blasted by their 
being turned out of place. It now happened, very 
naturally, but rather oddly, that the federalists be- 
came the opposition to the federal government ; but 
they still retained, and do retain their title ; though, 
really, they ought to be called, the aristocrats, or 
royalists. 

This opposition is now, however, chiefly confin- 
ed to the state of Massachusetts, the state govern- 
ment of which, has even talked about separating 
front the union. Your lordship has heard of a Mr. 



( 15 ; 

Henry, who was, it seems in close consultation and 
correspondence with the persons holding the reins 
of government in Massachusetts upon the subject of 
separation^ and who pretended that he was employ- 
ed by Sir James Craig, governor of Canada, for that 
purpose. Your lordship, I believe, disclaimed him 
and his intrigues, and, therefore, I must believe, of 
course, that he was not employed by our governor. 
But the people of America have been led to believe, 
that there must have been something in his story. 
This state of Massachusetts contains a great 
number of men of talents ; many rich men, become 
so chiefly by the purchasing, at a very low ratCyOj' 
the certificates oj soldiers ivho served in the late 
war, and by procuring acts of congress to cause the 
sums to be paid in full, which, indeed, was thought 
and openlj said, to be their main object in pressing 
for a federal government with large powers. These 
men, now disappointed in all their ambitious hopes ; 
seeing no chance of becoming petty noblemen; 
seeing the offices and power of the country pass 
into other hands, without the smallest probability of 
their return to themselves, unless they be content to 
abandon all their high notions of family distinction; 
these men have becoinG desperate ; and if I am to 
judge from their proceedings, would plunge their 
country into a civil war, rather than yield quiet 
obedience to that very government, which they had 
been so long in the practice of censuring others Tor 
not sufficiently adm.iring. But, my lord, though 
there is a majority of voices in Massachusetts on 

OUR SIDE ; rOR ON OUR SIDE THEY REALLY 

ARE, there is a thumping minority on the other 
side : and what is of great importance in the esti- 
mate, that minority consists of the nerves, the 
bones, and sinews of the population of the state ; 



( 16 ) 

SO that the sum total of our ground of reliance, as 
to a separation of the states, is the good will of the 
most numerous but most feeble and inefficient part 
of the people of the state of Massachusetts ; and 
even these, I am fully persuaded, are, by this day, 
a'wed into silence by the determined attitude of the 
rest of the country. 

The same charges which our vile newspapers 
have been preferring against Mr. Madison, have 
been preferred against him by their serene high- 
Tiesses of Massachusetts. They have accused him 
of a devotion to France ; they have, in our newspa- 
per style, called him the " tool of Napoleon ;^'* they 
too have dared to assert, that he made war upon 
us, without the slightest provocation^ for the pur- 
pose of aiding Napoleon in destroying England, 
^^ the bulwark of their religion-''^ They have held 
public feasts and rejoicings at the entrance of the 
Cossacks into France, and at the restoration of the 
ancient order of things. You will bear in mind, 
that these people are staunch Presbyterians ; and it 
would amuse your lordship to read the orations, 
preachings, and prayers of these people ; to witness 
their gratitude to Heaven for restoring the Pope^ 
whom they used to call the scarlet whore, the whore 
of Bab)'ion ; for the re-establishment of the Jesuits ; 
and for the re-opening of the dungeons, the re- 
sharpening of the hooks, and the re-kindling of the 
flames of the inquisition, — Their opponents, the re- 
publicans, say, we never were the friends of Napo- 
leon, as a despot, nor even as an emperor ; we ne- 
ver approved of any of his acts of oppression, either 
in France, or out of France ; we always complained 
of his acts of injustice towards ourselves ; but he 
was less hurtful to our country than other powers ; 
and, as to mankind in general, though we regretted 



( 17 ) 

to see him with so much power, we feared that that 
povver would be succeeded by something worse ; 
and we cannot now rejoice, that the pope is restor- 
ed, that the Jesuits are re-established, the inquisition 
re-invigorated ; that monkery is again overspread- 
ing the face of Europe ; and that the very hope of 
freedom there seems to be about to be extinguished 
for ever. And this, your lordship may be assured 
is the language of nineteen-twcnticths of the people 
of America. 

There are, it is to be observed, federalists in all 
the states, which you will easily believe, when you 
consider how natural it is for men, or at least, how 
prone men are, to wish to erect themselves into su- 
periour classes. As soon as a man has got a great 
deal of money, he aims at something beyond that. 
He thirsts for distinctions and tides. His next ob- 
ject is to hand them down to his family. It will 
require great watchfulness and gre?it resolution in 
the Americans to defeat this propensity. You have 
not leisure for it, or it would amuse you to trace 
the workings of this would-be nobility in America, 
They are very shame-faced about it ; but they let it 
peep cut through the crannies of their hjpocricy. — 
Being defeated, and totally put to the rout in the 
open field by the general good sense of the people, 
they have resorted to the most contemptible devi- 
ces for effecting, by degrees, that which they were 
unable to carry at a push. They have established 
what they call " Benevolent Societies y''^ to which 
they have prefixed, by way of epithet, qx character- 
istic^ the name of Washington. The professed ob- 
ject of these societies, who have their periodical 
orations, preachings prayings, and toastings, was 
to afford relief to any persons who might be in dis- 
tress* — The REAL OBJECT appcars to have been 

B2 



( 18 ) 

to enlist idlers and needy persons under their politi- 
cal banners. These little coteries of hypocrites ap- 
pear to have assembled, as it were, by an unanimous 
sentiment, or, rather by instinct, to celebrate the fall 
of Napoleon, and the restoration of the pope, the 
Jesuits and the inquisition. But unfortunately for 
this affiliation of hypocrites, they have little or no 
materials to work upon in America, where a man 
can earn a week's subsistence in less time than he 
can go to apply for and obtain it without work ; and, 
accordingly, the affiliation seems destined to share 
the fate of the serene highnesses propositions of 25 
years ago. 

The fall of Napoleon, so far from weakening, will 
tend to strengthen the general government, in the 
hands of the republicans. It has deprived its ene- 
mies of the grand topic of censure; the main ground 
of attack. The " Cossacks, ^^ as they are now some- 
times called, of Massachusetts, can no longer charge 
the president with being the " tool of Napoleon'*^ — 
they no longer stand in need of England as " the 
bulwark of religion, '^^ seeing that they have the pope, 
the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Franciscans, the 
Carthusians, the Dominicans, and above all, the in- 
guisition, to supply her place in the performance of 
that godly office. They will no longer, they can no 
longer, reproach the president for his attachment to 
France ; for France has now a king, a legitimate 
sovereign, who regularly hears mass. They are 
now, therefore, put in this dilemma ; they must de- 
clare openly for England against their country, or, 
by petty cavilling, must make their opposition con- 
temptible. The former they dare not do ; and, 
they are too full of spite not to do the latter. So 
that their doom, I imagine, is sealed ; and their fall 
will not be much less complete than that of Napo- 



( 19 ) 

leon himself, with this great difference, however, 
that his name and the fame of his deeds will de- 
scend to the latest posterity, while dieir projects of 
ennobling themselves at the expence of their coun- 
try's freedom and happiness, will be forgotten and 
forgiven before one half of them are eaten by 
worms. 

This is my view of the matter. Your lordship 
will probably think it erroneous ; but, if it prove 
correct, how long and how bitterly shall we have 
to deplore the existence of this bloody contest. 

I am, &c. WM. COBBETT. 

' (Letter II, has notj/et come to hand.) 



LETTER II L 

TO THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, ON THE AMERICAN WAR. 

My Lord — In the American newspapers I have 
seen an article entitled ''British botheration^' in 
which article are noticed in a most ludicrous, but 
most provoking manner, all the wise observations 
made in England as to the cause of our ships being 
beaten by those of America.— At the close of the 
article, the writer states what he regards as the real 
cause, but^ which statement I will, for my health's 
sake, refrain from repeating to your lordship. But 
if this saucy republican gave the title of botheration 
to our former puzzlings upon this head, what will he 
say now, when the question is become ten thousand 
times more embroiled than ever ? The speeches 
attributed to the opposition, upon this subject, pre- 
sent matter worthy of public observation. Mr. Hor- 
ner lays the blame of the failure on the Lakes Erie 
and Charnplain; he attributes those memorable vic- 
tories of the Americans, to the ministry. He com- 
plains that you and your colleagues left our naval 
commanders to contend with a vast superiority of 
force. The American official account in both ca- 
ses, makes the superiority of the force on our side ; 
and, as to Lake C/iamplain, Sir George Prevost 
himself gives us a superiority of seven guns. I am, 
for my part, at a loss to discover the policy of as- 
cribing every disgrace to the ministers, and every 



( 21 ) 

success to the commanders. Of its flagrant injus- 
tice there can be no doubt ; and, it appears to me, 
that its folly is not much more questionable. Wei- 
lington was made a duke for his success ; but, ac- 
cording to the present way of thinking, or of talking, 
the secretary of the war department should have 
been made a duke, and Wellington remained what 
he was ; and the lords of the admiralty should have 
had all the ribbons, stars, and titles that have been 
bestowed on naval commanders. If to the com- 
manders belong the praises of victories : to them 
also belong upon the face of the matter, the blame 
of defeat. 

Much reliance appears to be placed by the oppo- 
sition, on the circumstance of captain Barck^;^ hav- 
ing been honourably acquitted by a court martial. 
For, say they, if he was provided with a force equal 
to that of the Americans, he must have been guilty ; 
and if he was not, the ministers are to blame. They 
^ take the sentence of the court martial, therefore, as 
a proof of the guilt of the ministers. But is it not 
very evident that this conclusion is false ? Captain 
Barclay might be as brave a man as ever existed : 
he might have acted with wisdom equal to his bra- 
very ; he might have had a superiority of guns and 
men ; he might have been defeated ; yet he might 
be perfectly free from any blame, and might, on the 
contrary, merit honours and rewards, still the ad- 
miralty might deserve no censure whatever. The 
Americans might have abler seamen ; they might, 
from their superior bodily strength and agility, be 
able to fire quicker than we ; they might fight with 
an unheard degree of resolution and eagerness ; 
they might be animated by feelings unknown to the 
. bosoms of their adversaries. What ! is it to be- 
^ come a maxim, that whenever one of our comman-- 



( 22 ) 

ders is defeated, there must be a crime either in him 
or in the ministry ? Must he be punished or they 
condemned ? Must he be their accuser, or they be 
his accusers ? This would soon introduce a very 
amicable sort of connection between the comman- 
ders and the ministry* The truth is, my lord, that 
there is a degree of mortification and of shame, at- 
tached to these naval victories of the Americans, 
that drives men, and particularly naval men, who 
have all the mass of the people widi them, to all 
sorts of follies and inconsistencies. They do not 
know what to say or to do, in order to get rid of 
this insupportable mortification. Sometimes John- 
ny Bull says to Jonathan, "you have got some Eng- 
lish sailors in your ships" — ** May be so," says Jo- 
nathan, " but you have got all English sailors in 
your ships" — '*Aye," replies John, *' but you have 
got the best of our sailors," ** may be so," says Jo- 
nathan, ** but then how comes the best of your sai- 
lors to desert from your service to come into mine?" 
** No, no ! rejoins John hastily, *' I don't mean the 
best men ; I mean they fight more desperately than 
those we have on board, because the rascals know 
that if they are taken they will be hanged*'' — " Oh 
fie ! Johnny," rejoins Jonathan, ** do you think that 
Englishmen will fight better from a dread of the 
gallows, than from a love of their king and glorious 
constitution V " No," says John, " I said no such 
thing. You have got heavier shot, and stronger 
powder y and more guns, and more men " — *' Indeed 
Johnny," says Jonathan, " why I am sure you pay 
enough for your ships, shot, guns, men, and pow- 
der. Your navy and ordnance, last year, cost you 
twenty-five millions sterling, which is more than 
twenty times as much as ours is to cost us tiext 
year,; though we are building fleets and forming 



( 23 ) 

dock-yards, besides defending, lakes and all, three 
thousand miles of sea coast.'' — '* Well," says John, 
ready to burst with anger, *' what is that to you, 
what I pay ? I will pay it, if I like to pay it" — - 
" Oh dear!" says Jonathan, *' dont be angry old 
friend, I have not the least objection to your payr 
ing : only, I hope I shall not hear any more about 
iht property tax^'^ — ^* You are a saucy scoundrel," 
says John, foaming with rage ; ** you deserve a 
good drubbing, you Yankee dog, and you will get 
it yet — and, at any rate, if I pay taxes, I'll make 
you pay taxes too, If I am miserable myself, Pll 
make you unhappy, if I can." 

It is to this mortification my lord, that you have 
to ascribe the attacks of the newspapers on the na- 
val administration, which really appears to me to 
have done more in Canada than could have been 
expected at their hands. You see that the opposition 
here are supported by the country, who will blame 
you, blame sir George Prevost, blame our pov/der, 
shot, ship, gun-locks ; blame any person or thing ; 
blame and execrate all the world, rather than ackno w» 
I ledge that the republicans are, gun to gun and man 
j to man, our masters upon the sea. Far be it from me 
to censure a reluctance to come to such an acknow- 
i ledgment. The reluctance arises from a love of 
i^one of the best professions of one's countr}-, name- 
ly, its fame in deeds of arms. — But, then, it is ma- 
nifest, that this patriotic feeling, if not subjected to 
: reason and enlightened views, may be productive 
\ of great injustice towards commanders, or ministers, 
or both ; and may expose the nation to great and 
lasting misery. The opposition are feeding this 
feeling— They ascribe every failure to you and 
your colleagues : and they studiously keep out of 
sight the real cause of those failures — They justify 



( 24 ) 

the war on our part ; they fan the flame ; they ex- 
cite false hopes of future success ; they say to the 
people, we have failed hitherto from the fault of the 
ministr}^ ; and thereby, they cause it to be believed, 
that better may be done for the future, without anj) 
radical change in our political and naval systems ; 
and, in doing so, they do, in my opinion, as greal 
an injury as they can possibly do the country. 

Next to the ministry comes sir George Prevost. 
Mr. Horner did not know which was to blame, the 
ministry or the colonial governor. — The fleet had 
been beat and captured, and Mr. Horner was sure 
that it must have been o\ving to something other 
than the fleet itself, or at least its commanders. It 
never could be their fault. Men who fought twc 
hours and twenty minutes within a few yards of the 
mouths of the opposing cannon, and whose vessels 
had not a mast or any thing standing to which a sail 
could be fastened. Such men could not be m fault. 
They fought most bravely. They were averpoxv- 
erecL They lost their fleet, but ungrateful is the 
country, and base the man, who insinuates that they 
ous:ht to have done more. Thev could do nc 
more. If they had continued to fight, they mus1 
have been all blown to pieces, without the powei 
of resistance. No ; it was not the fault of the offi- 
cers of our fleet ; it was the fault of the Yankees. 
for being so strong in body, so agile, so dexterouS; 
and so determined. Mr. Horner should have made 
a motion against them. Suppose he Avere, nexi 
time, to make a motion for prosecuting them ? L 
we could get at them in that way, it would soon be- 
numb their faculties. ** Aye," say the people aboul 
Portsmouth and Gosport, '* it is time an inquiry 
was made ! it is a shame that sir George Prevost is 
not brought home and punished.^'' I assure youi 



( 25 ) 

lordship that this is their language ; and they will 
be (luite outrageous when they hnd that he is not 
to be punished; but, on the contrary, is to remain 
where he is. There is no one hereabouts who does 
not think diat sir James Yoe's letter to the lords ol 
the admiralty is a finisher for sir George. 

To sucb a pitch of folly has the nation been push- 
ed by their notions of die invincibility of the navy, 
that a captmn in that service is looked upon as the 
absolute arbiter of the fate of a lieutenant general oi 
the army, and the governor of a province, under 
■whose <^mmand he is serving. Sensible men were 
disgusted at the arrogance of sir James \ eo s letter; 
but it was well suited to the capacities and tastes 
of those who sing, or listen to Dibdm's nauseous 
trash about the fleet and sailors, bpon the heads 
of those who demand these inquiries and exposures, 
be the consequences. These consequences will be 
cleir proof, that our naval officers had a sufficiency 
of force upon both the occasions alluded to, and 
that they were to blame, if any body was, for their 
defeats. Sir George Prevost will never suffer him- 
self to be regarded as the cause of these calamities 
and disgraces ; and I am very sure diat the minis- 
try, having the power, will not neglect the means of 
iustifyina; diemselves. So that all this stir wiU on- 
ly tend to make the mortification of the navy great- 
er than it now is ; the prejudices of the nation wi 
only receive the greater shock ; and the world %yi I 
only have completer proof of those very facts which 
we are so anxious to disguise or disfigure. It vvas 
observed during the debate that though our ships 
of war were quite sufficiendy provided with the 
means of " combatting an ordinary foe, they ought 
to have been fitted out in an extraordinary way to 
combat such a foe as the Americans /" But sup- 



( 26 } 

pose the admiralty not to have fitted them out in 
this extraordinary way? Were they to blame for 
that ? Was there a man in the country who did 
not despise the American navy ? Was there a pub- 
lic writer besides myself, who did not doom that 
navy to destruction in a month ? Did not all par- 
ties exceedingly relish the description given in a 
very august assembly, of " half a dozen of Jir fri- 
gates, with hits of striped bunting at their mast- 
heads ?" Did not the Giie?Tiere sail up and down 
the American coast, with her name written on her 
flag, challenging those fir frigates ? Did not the 
whole nation, with one voice, exclaim at the affair 
of the Jjittle Belt — " Only let Rodgers come with' 
in reach of one of our frigates .^" 

If, then, such was the opinion of the whole na- 
tion, of ail men of ail parties ; with what justice is 
the board of admiralty blamed for not thinking 
otherwise ; for not sending out the means of com- 
batting an extraordinary sort of foe ; for not issu- 
ing a privilege to our frigates to run away from one 
of those iir built things with a hit of striped bunting 
at its mast head? It has always been the 'misfor- 
tune oi' England that her rulers and her people have 
spoken and have thought contemptuously of the 
Americans. Your lordship and I were boys, and 
indeed not born, or at least I was not, when our 
king first was involved in a quarrel with the Ame- 
ricans — but almost as long as I can remember any 
thing, I can remember that this contempt was ex- 
pressed in the songs and sayings of the clodhop- 
pers amongst whom I was born and bred ; in doing 
which w^e conducted, down to the earth that we 
delved, the sentiments of the squires and lords. — 
The result of the former w^ar, while it enlightened 
nobody, added to the vindictiveness of hundreds of 



( 27 ) 

thousands ; so that we have entered into this war 
with all our old stock of contempt and a vastly in- 
creased stock of rancour. To think that the Ame- 
rican republic is to be 2i great power is insupporta- 
ble. Some men, in order to keep her down, Ia 
their language, and at the same time, not to use 
harsh expressions, observe that she is only another 
part of ourselves. They wish her to be thought, if 
not dependent upon us, still to be a sort of younger 
child of our family, coming in i\fter Ireland^ Jamai- 
ca^ Sec. 

1 met a worthy Scots gentleman, a month or two 
ago, who wished that some man of ability would 
propose a scheme that he had, and without which, 
he isaid, ive would never have peace agai7i, *' Well 
sir (said I) and pray what is your scheme ?" ** Why 
(said he) it is very simple — it is to form an Union 
with the American states." It was raining, and 1 
wanted to get on ; so that I had not time to ascer- 
tain what sort of union he meant. This gentleman 
however, was remarkably moderate in his views. 
The far greater' part of the nation expect absolute 
colonial submission; and if our fleets and armies 
should not finally succeed in bringing a property 
tax from America into his majesty's exchequer the 
far greater part of the people will be most grievously 
disappointed. So that this contempt of the Yan- 
kees has given your lordship and your colleagues a 
good deal to do in order to satisfy the hopes and ex- 
pectations which have been excited, and which, I 
assure you, are confidently entertained. Of the ef- 
fect of this contempt I know nobody, liowever, who 
have so much reason to repent as the officers of his 
majesty's navy. ¥l they had triumphed, it would 
only have been over half a dozen of lir frigates, with 
bits of bunt ijig at their mast heads. They were 
sure to gain no reputation in the contest ; and if 



( 28 ) 

they were defeated, what was their lot ? The worst 
of it is, they themselves did, in some measure, con- 
tribute to their own ill fate : for of all men living, 
none spoke of'* poor Jonathan" with so much con- 
tempt. To read their letters, or the letters which 
our newspaper people pretend to have received from 
them at the onset of the war, one would have 
thought that they would hardly have condescended 
XQ return a shot from a bimfing ship. And now to 
see that hit of hunting fiyij^g so often over the Bri- 
tish flag ! Oh ! it is stinging beyond expression. 
The people in the country cannot think how it is. — 
There are some people who are for taking the Ame- 
rican commodores at their word, ascribing their vic- 
tories to the immediate intervention of Providence. 
Both Perry and M'Donough begin their despatches 
by saying — '' Almighty God has given us a victo- 
ry." Some of their clergy upon this ground alone, 
call them Christian heroes, and compare them to 
Joshua, who, by the bye, was a Jew. I observe 
that when any of them get beaten, they say nothing 
about supernatural agency ; yet tnere is still a vic- 
tory on one side or the other : and if they ascribe 
their victories to such agency, why not ascribe our 
victories, and of course their own defeats, to this 
same overruling cause ? If Mr. Madison had told 
the congress that *' Almiglity God had been pleas- 
ed to enable the enemy to burn their capital," how 
they would have stared at him ! Yet, surely, he 
might have said that with as much reason as com- 
modore M'Donough ascribed his victory to such 
interposition. If commodore Perry, who captured 
our fleet on Lake Erie, had been met at New York 
with looks of perfect indift'erence, instead of being 
feasted and toasted as he was, and had been told that 
the cause of this, was, that he had gained no victo- 
ry, even according to his own official account —how 



( 29 ) 

sillv he would have looked ! And yet he could have 
no reason to complain. 

I perceive also many other instances of this aping 
propensity in the Americans. It is the *' honour- 
able William Jones, secretary of the navy;" the 
'' honourable the mayor of New York ;" " his hon- 
our the chief justice ;" and even the members of 
congress call one another ^*Ao;?o/^ra<^/<? gentlemen," 
and their '^honourable friends. "^ — I was not till of 
late aware, that this sickly taste was become so pre- 
valent in America. This is indeed contemptible — 
and England will have, in a few years, a much bet- 
ter ground of reliance for success, in this change of 
national character in America, than in the force of 
our arms. When once the hankering after titles 
becomes general in that country ; when once rich- 
es will have produced that effect, the country will 
become an easy prey to an old, compact, and easily 
wielded government like ours. When men find 
that they cannot obtain titles unde^rthe form of go- 
vernment now existing, they will as soon as they 
have the opportunity, sell the country itself to any 
sovereign, who will gratify their base ambition. 
This is the slow poison that is at work on the Ame- 
rican constitution. It will proceed, unless speedily 
checked, to the utter destruction of that which it has 
assailed. Our best way is to make peace with them 
now, and leave this poison to work. By the time 
they get to '* right honourable ^^"^ we shall be ready 
to receive their allegiance. When the bit of bunting 
comes to be exchanged for some sort of armorial 
thing, the fellows who now *' fight like blood-thirs- 
ty savages," as our papers say, will become as tame 
and as timid as sheep. 

[Letter IV. has not yet come to hand.] 
C2 



LETTER V. 

TO THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, OX THE AMERICAN WAR, 

My Lord — The nation begin to suspect, at last, 
that this American war may prove an unfortunate 
thing. If your lordship recollects, 1 taunted John- 
ny Bull, flouted him and gibed, when, at the out- 
set of this war, he crowed and cock-cock-caw'd, at 
the idea of giving the Yankees a good drubbing, — 
If your lordship recollects that I flouted wise John, 
and told him, that, at any rate, I hoped, if he was 
resolved to enjoy this sport, he would never let me 
hear him say a word about the property tax, or, 
what he vulgarly calls the income tax, I knew, 
from the beginning, that I should see him galled 
here. I knew that I should have him upon his hip : 
and here I have him, for he is now crying out 
against the tax, as loud as a pig under the knife of 
a butcher, though he, at the same time, seems to 
have no objection to the work of slaughtering go- 
ing on. In short, so that he is safe himself, and 
pays nothing, his delight is in seeing the war deso- 
late the rest of the world. But he does not like to 
paj/» Rather than pay, he would give the world a 
chance of being at peace, and of ceasing to bleed. 

That so amiable a personage should meet with 
any rubs or crosses in life must, of course, be mat- 
ter of regret with his friends, and must remind them^ 
of the maxim, that, as virtue alone is not, in all 



( 31 ) 

cases, sufficient to inspire happiness in this world, 
the virtuous afflicted ought chiefly to rely on the 
world to come. This sort of reliance is very suit- 
able to Johnny, at this time ; for he has not given 
the Yankees a drubbing ; and yet the income tax 
sticks to him like bird lime. The Times newspa- 
per cheers him, indeed, by teUing him, that he is 
causing the Yankees to pay taxes ; that, though he 
so sorely feels himself, he does not suffer in vain ; 
for that he is making others suffer toOi To be 
sure, this is a consoling reflection ; but still it is 
not quite sufficient to reconcile him to the contin- 
uation of the income tax, seeing that, when called 
on for the money, he sometimes forgets the delight 
of seeing others suffer, which he has enjoyed for his 
money. 

But now, my lord, leaving wise Johnny, amiable 
and honest Johnny, to his taxes and his hopes of 
giving the Yankees a drubbings permit me to re- 
mind your lordship, briefly, of the origin of this^ 
war ; for, if I have life to the end of it, this origin 
shall not be forgotten. It is necessary, at every 
stage, to keep it steadily in view : for, unless we do 
this, we shall be wholly ** bofhered^^ out of it at last, 
as we were in the case of the French war. 

The war against France was a war against prin- 
ciples at first ; it then became a war of conquest ; 
and it ended in being a war for deliverance. We 
set out with accusing our enemy with being dan- 
gerous, as disorganizers of ancient governments ; 
and we ended with accusing them of being danger- 
ous, as despots* The French were too free for us 
at the beginning, and too much enslaved {qt u^ at 
the end ; and it was so contrived as to make more 
than half the world believe that the Cossocks were 
the great champions of civil and political liberty. 



( 32 ) 

So, that, when we came to the close, leaving the 
French nearly as we found them, not seeing tythe&, 
monks, game-laws, gabelles, corvess, bastiles, seig- 
ileurial courts re-established, we had spent more 
than a thousand millions oj' pounds in a war, of the 
first object of which we had wholly lost sight. We 
will not have it thus, my lord, with regard to the 
American war. We will not suffer its first object 
to be lost sight of. Nobody, as to this point, shall 
be able to *' bother''^ any historian who is disposed 
to speak the truth. 

The war with America arose thus — We were at 
war with France, America was neutral. We not 
only exercised our known right of stopping Ame- 
rican merchant ships at sea, to search them for 
enemy's goodsy for troops in the enemy^s service^ and 
for goods contraband of ivar, which species of 
search, and of seizure in case of detection, Mr. 
Madison did not oppose either by v^ord or deed. 
This is a maritime right, sometimes disputed by 
Russia, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden ; but never 
given up by us, except for a while, at a time of 
great danger. This right was never disputed by 
Mr. Madison during the French war. The exercise 
of it he submitted to without complaint. This was 
our " right of search ;" and this right was enjoyed 
by us, without any complaint on his part ; and this 
is the right which many people think he opposed, 
and upon that ground they have approved the war. 

But the war had nothing to do with this right, 
any more than it had to do with our right of bring- 
ing coals from Newcastle to London. The war 
was declared by Mr. Madison against us, because 
we stopped American merchant ships upon the 
high seas, 2ind impressed people out of them. W^e 
said, that we did this in order to recover our own 



( 33 ) 

seamen, who were frequently found serving in these 
American ships ; but it was notorious, the fact was 
never denied, and never can be denied, that we im- 
pressed thus, great numbers of native AmericanSy 
forced them on board of our ships of war, and com* 
pelled them to submit to our discipline, and to risk 
their lives in fighting for us. These are facts which 
can never be denied. Mr. Madison, for years, call- 
ed upon us to cease this practice. We did not 
cease. He repeatedly threatened war if we perse- 
vered. We did persevere ; and, after years of re- 
monstrance, he, or rather the two houses of con- 
gress, the real representatives of the people of Ame- 
rica, declared war against us. 

Here then, is the cause of the w^ar ; the sole cause 
of the war ; war, long threatened, and, at last frank- 
ly declared, previous to any hostile act or move- 
ment on the part of Mr. Madison, or rather the con- 
gress. For, my lord, though Johnny Bull, though 
wise Johnny, whose generosity would put all other 
]iations into his own happy state ; though wise and 
generous John talks about Mr. Madison's hostil-' 
ity, it is, in fact the hostility of the congress ; that 
is to say, the hostility of the people : because the , 
congress are the real and not the sham representa- 
tives of the people ; and because the congress, who 
deyared, and who now support the war, have been 
chosen during the war, and ji/^f before it. The mem- 
bers of the congress do not purchase their seats : no 
seats can be bought or sold ; none of the members 
can get any thing for themselves or families for their 
votes. So that when they decide, it is, in reality, 
a majority of the people who decide ; and, the peo- 
ple did decide, that they would resist, by force of 
armSi the impressment of their seamen. 



( 34 ) 

The people here generally believe what the infa- 
mous print, the 71>2^5 newspaper tell them, that the 
people of America never complained of such im- 
pressments ; but the truth is, that long before, years 
before, the war was declared, complaints, and most 
bitter complaints, had rung through the country, 
against these impressments. Letters from the im- 
pressed persons were published without end. Affi- 
davits proving the fact. Representations enough to 
make a nation mad with resentment ; enough to 
drive even quakers to arms. None of these have 
our newspapers ever copied. None of these have 
they ever made known to their readers. They have 
published the harangues of Goodloe Harper, H. G. 
Otis, poor Timothy Pickering, and other would-be 
noblesse. They have given us every thing from 
the free press of America, at all calculated to cause 
it to be believed, that the war is unpopular there ; 
but not a word on the other side ; not a word to let 
us see what were the real sentiments of the majori- 
ty of the republic. I will now lay before your 
lordship some of the complaints of the impressed 
Americans, as published in the American newspa- 
pers ; for, I am convinced, that even yoii are not 
acquainted fully of the nature and tone of those 
complaints, and, at any rate, the publications 
should, if possible, be rebutted on our part, v-ice- 
ing, that they must produce such a hatred of us in 
the minds of the people of America, as will, if not 
by some means rtioUified, lead to a never ceasing 
hostility. Your lordship will perceive, that these 
statements are sent forth with all the forms of judi- 
cial acts ; that they consist of statements made on 
oath ; that these statements are certified by legal 
magistrates, whose names are affixed to them : and 
that, of course, they are calculated to have great 



( 35 ) 

weight with the public. It is not a bad way to 
make the case our own : to suppose sucli com- 
plaints made in our papers against America, or any- 
other nation ; and, then, to judge of the effect that 
those complaints would make on the people of 
England, recollecting that the Americans are not 
base and cowardly more than we are. 

[Here followed several depositions, copied from the newspajxirs, of 
impressed American seamen.] 

Now, my lord, I do not say that these statements 
are true, \n spite of all the particular detail of 
names, dates and places ; in spite of oaths and cer- 
tificates, they may be false ; but as it is to such 
statements that we owe this unfortunate war, we 
surely ought to endeavour to prove, that some, at 
least, of these statements are false. The republi- 
can newspapers teem, and teemed long before the 
w^r, with publications of this sort. The blood of 
America was set boiling with such publications — 
The vote of congress for the war was the most 
popular vote ever given by that body. It is, there- 
fore, of vast importance that these publications 
should be counteracted if possible. They are ei- 
ther true or false ; if the latter, as I would fain 
hope, they can be easily refuted ; if true, which it 
v/ould be shocking to believe, certainly we ought 
to be very ready and forward to make atonement to 
the Americans for what they have suffered. 

These statements have, too, produced another 
most serious effect. They have filled the crews of 
the American ships with implacable revenge. To 
the usual motives of patriotism and glory, they have 
added the still more powerful motive of vengeance. 
Against crews, thus animated, men under the influ- 
ence of the mere ordinary motive to bravery really 
cajmot be expected to succeed without a great su- 



( 56 ) 

oeriority of force. I leave your lordship to suppose 
what would be the effect of statements like these, if 
the case were ours. If we were at peace with all 
the world and were carrying on our commerce 
agreeably to the h^y^soi neutraUty, while the Ame- 
ricans were at war with some other power ; and it 
the Americans were to impress Englishmen Worn 
on board English ships, bringing up coals from 
Newcastle to London, were to force them into their 
ships of war, compel Uiem to fight for America ; 
and, in short, to occasion, in the English papers, 
statements such as I have above quoted. If this 
were the case, does your lordship think, that we 
should be very quiet? And if such statements 
would be likely to set us in a flame, are we to sup- 
pose, that they have had no effect on the Ame- 

"^Here, my lord, as you well know, we have the 
real cause of that war, which, it is said, is now to 
eneage a hundred thousand men, txvo hundred ships 
of war, and which cannot cost less than twenty 
millions a vear. It has been asserted, that the con- 
gress declared war against us to assist Napoleon on 
the continent. This is so foolish that the writers 
must think that they are addressing it to men little 
superior to brutes. It was impossible that the 
Americans could know where Napoleon was, when 
they declared war. It was impossible that their 
war should really aid him in his designs against 
Russia. It was against their interest that Russia 
should be crushed by any power, and especial y by 
France. The other charge, that America, ike an 
assassin, attacked us in the dark^ is equally false 
and foolish. How could an open declaration ot 
war, by a legislative assembly, after repeated dis- 
cus ion by an act deserving such a description? 



( 49 ) 

observes, '* that when an American gentleman ot 
splendid attainments^ some years ago, composed his 
celebrated review of the conscription code of that 
monster Bonaparte^ he could not possibly foresee, 
that his own country would so soon be subjected 
to the same barbarous humiliation, " This gentle- 
man of '' splendid attainments^'^ was a Mr. Walsh, 
of Philadelphia, who, having been in France, came 
over to England, where, under the patronage of the 
friends of bribery and corruption, he wrote and pub- 
lished a pamphlet, calculated to aid their views. 
This pamphlet clearly she\^ ed that the author was 
one of those Americans, who, by the vain splendour 
that they here behold, and by the hope of sharing 
in it, have been induced to apostatise from the prin- 
ciples of their o\\'n republican government. This 
young man, whose work was realiy a very poor per- 
formance, abounding with inconsistencies, and, in- 
deed, with downright falsehoods, had his head turn- 
ed by the flatteries of the hireling ^vriters and re- 
viewers here : and I should not wonder if his work 
acquired him the unspeakable felicity of hearing, 
that even his name was mentioned in a conversation 
between two lords. I'he great recommendation of 
the work was, that it was not the work of an Eng- 
lishman. No ; it was said, the work of an American^ 
who, of course^ was 2, friend of the French, and not 
at all disposed to exaggerate in describing their mi- 
sery. This was the fraudulent colour under which the 
work got into circulation. Mr. Walsh was a tool 
in the hands of crafty men, who dazzled him with 
praises. 

But now as to the resemblance between Mr. 
Monroe's measure and the conscription of Napo- 
leon ; 

K 



( 50 ) 

ist, The French conscription was decreed by an 
arbitrar)^ despot, assisted by an assembly whom the 
people had not chosen. The levy in America is or- 
dered by a law, passed by the congress, who are the 
real and not the sham representatives of the people ; 
who have recently been freely chosen by the peo- 
ple ; and who, if they desire to be re-elected, must 
act so as to please the people, the time of their re- 
election being near at hand. 

2d. The French conscript w^as called out to fight 
for the support and aggrandizement of a particular 
family^ and for the support also of nobles in the pos- 
session of their titles and estates. It was the honour 
of the crown that the Frenchman were called on to 
fight for, and that, too, in distant lands. The Ame- 
rican citizen is called out to defend no sovereign 
family, no crown, no 72obles, to give no security and 
to gain no renown for them, or any of them ; but to 
iigiitfor the safety, liberty, and honour of the country, 
w'here there are no distinctions of rank, and where, of 
course, every individual fights, when he does fight, 
in his oxvn cause as much as in the cause of the 
president himself. 

3d. The French conscription compelled personal 
service. The American levy contains no such com- 
pulsion. Every twenty-five men, between the ages 
of 18 and 45, are to furnish one man. If no one of 
the twenty-five will serve in person, the whole twen- 
ty-five together, are, according to their property, to 
pay a certain sum of money. 

4th. The French conscript, while he left, per- 
haps, an aged flither or mother at home living in 
penury, was fighting for an emperor, whose wife 
carried about her person, at the nation's expence, 
decorations, which cost as much as would have fed 
thousands of families for a year. The American le- 



( 51 ) 

vyman, knows, that his government^ all taken to- 
gether, president, congress, judges, secretaries, 
clerks, and all, do not cost so much in a year, as is 
swallowed by an imperial family in one single day. 

5th. France was not invaded. This is a very rna 
terial point. America was, and is invaded. Her viK 
lages, towns, and cities, have been plundered and 
burnt. A continuation of this mode of warfare has 
been distinctly declared by our admiral to have been 
resolved upon. It is invasion, it is devastation, it is 
fire, it is the sword, it is plunder at their very doors, 
and in their very dwellings on the coast, that the 
American levy are called forth to repel, to punish or 
to prevent. It is no possible, no imaginary, no dis 
tant danger that has called forth this measure from 
the congress ; it is actual invasion ; it is an enemy in 
the country, there laying waste, plundering, and kill- 
ing ; lawfully, if you please ; but that is no matter. 
If Napoleon had landed an army here, he would 
have been justified in so doing by the laws of war ; 
but, when we expected him even to make the at- 
tempt^ at invasion, did xve confine ourselves to mea- 
sures like this of Mr. Monroe ? Did we not call 
upon the whole of the people to be ready to come 
out under martial law ? But I am here anticipating^ 
another part of the subject of my letter. 

So much, then, for the resemblance between the 
French conscription and the American levy ; and, 
I am sure, that your lordship uill allow, that they 
no more resemble one another tlian this Register 
resembles the Tunes newspaper. What, then, be- 
comes of Mr. Walter's bombastical trash about 
sariguinary despots and chained conscripts ? Yet, he 
will find dupes ! He has found dupes for many 
years, and he will continue to find them upon this 
subject, I fear, 'till we shall see an American fleet 



V 



52 ) 



on the coast of Ireland, an occurrence more proba- 
ble than, at one time, was thought the capture ot 
an English frigate by a republican thing with ^bit 
of striped btniting at its mast head, as Mr. Canmng 
thought proper to describe the American frigates. 

But, my lord, it is not with the French conscrip- 
tion alone that I mean to compare the republican 
levy. Let us see (for that will bring the thing home 
to us) what is the nature of this measure of Mr. 
Monroe compared with our Militias, 

We have two or three militias ; but there are two 
clearly distinguished from each other : One is called 
the militia, and the other the local inilitia. The for- 
mer consists of men called out by ballot, with- 
out ANY REGARD TO THE AMOUNT OF THEIR 

PROPERTY. Each man, so called on, must serve 
in person, or must, out of his own pocket, find a 
man to serve in his stead; and, service is, in all 
respects, except that of being sent over sea, the same 
as that of the regular soldiers ; seeing that the man 
may be marched to any part of the kingdom, may- 
be quartered in camp, in bamcks, and is subjected 
to all military pains and penalties, the price of sub- 
stitutes has long been so higli, that no labourer or 
journeyman has, out of his own pocket been able 
to procure a substitute. Now, you see, there is a 
wide difference here. For the man of small means 
in America has twenty-four others to assist him in 
payino; the money necessary to engage a substitute. 
Twenty-five men are put into a class. If one ot 
them goes to serve, the others are able to make him 
a handsome compensation. If none of them choose 
to serve, the money in lieu of the service of one man 
is to be collected from twenty-five men. And, which 
is the beauty of this admirable scheme, when it 
comes to the payment of money, each person is tc 
pay, not the same sum, but a sum in proportion to 



( 53 ) 

his means. In England the names of all of certain 
ages in each parisli, are put into a box, out of which 
the number wanted are drawn. It happens, of 
course, that, of four, one is a rich merchant, another 
a farmer, another a journeyman taylor, and another 
a labourer. Each is to serve in person or to find a 
substitute. The price of the substitute is as high 
for the poor as for the rich. The two latter, there- 
fore, who have no property to defend, must serve, 
or they must rake together 'the means of paying for 
t]>e deience of the property of the rich, and thus in- 
yolve themselves in debt, and expose their fiimilies, 
if thc}- have any to misery. But you see Mr. 
Monroe's scheme most effectually provides against 
this. It puts all the male population, between 18 
and 45, into classes of twenty-five men. Each 
class is to send one man. If they agree amongst 
themselves who shall go, the thing 'is done. If none 
of them choose to go, then the twenty-five are to 
pay a sum of money ; but here they are not to pay 
alike; the journeyman taylor and the labourer are not 
to pay like the merchant and the farmer ; every man 
of the twenty-five is to pay in proportion "to his 
property ; and thus does the burden of defence fall 
with arithmetical correctness on the thin^ to be de- 
fended. 

And this, my lord, is what Mr Walter calls a 
'' conscription ; this he calls a measure of '' bar- 
barous hwmliation'" to the people of America ;. for 
proposing this measure he calls Mr. Madison a 
"- sanguinary despot;'' this is the measure which he 
says will never he submitted to by the republicans. 
The foolish man vrill soon have to announce his as- 
tonishment at the complete success of the measure : 
if he has not, 1 v, ill acknowledge myself to be as 
great a fool as he. 

E2 



x 



( 54 ) 

But to proceed, our local militia were to serve 
oniv within their several counties, but their service 
has now been extended ; though, except in cases 
of ur^encij, they are to be called out only a month 
in the year. Here no man must get the means of 
hiring a substitute from any insurance or club. He 
must make no bargain with his master to work out 
the amount of the penalty. He must swear that the 
ten pounds comes out of his own present means, or 
he must serve in person. In this case, however, we 
approach a litde nearer to Mr. Monroe's excellent 
scheme ; for in this militia, we proportion the fine, 
in some measure, to the property of him who refu- 
ses to serve ; though a rich farmer still pays only 
about tiventi/ pounds, whilst the poorest of his labour- 
ers must pay ten poimds, though certainly the pro- 
perty of the former may be estimated at two or three 
thousand times greater than tbe property of the lat- 
ter. Now, according to Mr. Monroe's scheme, a 
couple of fi\rmers would find themselves classed 
with twenty-three journeymen blacksmiths, collar- 
makers, wheelwrights, &c. &c. And, of course, the 
two farmers would pay 24-25ths of the penalty ; or, 
which would be the natural result, one man out oi 
the twenty-five, with a handsome reward from the 
rest, would cheerfully take up the musket instead of 
tlie dung-fork or the sledge-hammer. 

But the most important distinction still remains 
to be noticed : that is to say, that we have, for twen- 
ty years, had a militia on foot, under martial law, 
under officers cominissioned by the king, under the 
regular discipline, lodged in camps or barracks, 
marched to every corner of the kingdom, without 
any 2,Q,\M2Mnvasion of the country. These regiments 
have been kept up, the ballotting has been going 
on, and no invaders have come to bum our villages, 



( 55 ) 

towns, and cities — or, to plunder their;, or to lay 
them under contribution. While, in America, we 
are invading and laying waste ; we are taking 'per^ 
manent possession of one district ; we are compel- 
ling the people to swear allegiance to our king ; we 
have one army afloat here, another there, more are 
going out ; and this Mr. Walter is calling till he is 
hoarse for more troops to be sent to divide and de- 
vastate the country, to overturn the republican go- 
vernment, and reduce the people to unconditional 
submission ; all this he is doing, while he is, at the 
same time, crying out against the " barbarous'' 
scheme of calling upon the people of property to 
defend their country, either in their persons, or with 
their purses.— Aye, my lord ! fool as Mr. Walter 
IS, he perceives that Mr. Monroe's is an infallible 
scheme for raising an army in a short time, and for 
keeping that army complete. He, fool as he is, 
smells powder in every line of this scheme. But 
it IS his business to misrepresent, to disfigure to 
induce his well-dressed rabble of readers, and you 
too, if possible, to believe that the scheme xvillfail 
and that, therefore, we ought to carry on the war with 
all imaginable energy. I trust, that you will see the 
danger which this wise and equitable plan presents 
to us. I trust that you will at once abandon all hopes 
of extorting any concession from a country which 
has now shewn, that difficulties and dangers, as they 
press upon her, only tend to increase her energy, to 
raise her spirit, and make her more formidable.' I 
have respect enough for the understanding of your 
lordship to believe that you have read Mr. Mon- 
roe's letter to the chairman of the military commit- 
tee with great attention, and not without some de- 
gree of alarm. But the conclusion of it is so very 



( 58 ) 

As long as they are stimulated with the hope ot 
forcing open the offices of government by tlie mis- 
fortunes of their country, they will talk big about a 
separation of the union — but the moment that that 
hope dies within them, you will see them as quiet 
as mice. And, really, I do not know of any thing 
more likely to kill that hope than the scheme of Mr. 
Monroe, which will not only bring forth an efficient 
army now, but which will hold an efficient army al- 
ways in readiness at a week's notice, while at the 
same time, it will obviate the necessity of a stand- 
ing army and of a ^veat per?7ianent expense, and will 
prevent the executive government from acquiring a 
patronage inconsistent with the principles of repub- 
lican government, and dangerous to political and 

civil liberty. 

I confess, moreover, that there is another class of 
men, whom you would mortally offi^nd by making 
a peace that should be honourable to America : I 
mean, the haters of freedom. I do not mean * * 
^-*5ie******** This mo- 
ment has arrived the Courier newspaper with news 
of PEACE. I do not know how to express the plea- 
sure I feel at this news, or the gratitude, which, for 
this act, I, in common with my countrymen, owe 
to your lordship and your colleagues. Far be it 
from me to rejoice at what the Times calls the dis- 
grace of the navy of England and the humiliation 
of the crown ; but being fully convinced, the lon- 
ger the war had continued, the more disgraceful and 
dangerous would have been the result, I do most 
sincerely rejoice at this auspicious event, and cer- 
tainly not the less on account of its being calculated 
to baffle the views of that hypocritical faction, who 
have still the impudence to call themselves whigs. 
I am, &c. &c. Wm. COBBETT. 

Botley, 2Sth Dec, 1814. 



I 



J at nrst proposed only to introduce four of Mr. Cobbett's let- 
ters to Lord Liverpool, but some of his other political pieces on 
the late American war, are so extremely interesting and pleasur- 
able to me (which m fact was the primary cause of my repub- 
lishing them in this form, with the subsequent appendages) that I 
have concluded to introduce the most important of all his writings 
on the present topic as they vindicate the American character 
trom the foul and false aspersions of tory calumniators, both in 
Europe and America, in the most masterly manner ; and, as thev 
in themselves, give an honourable glimpse of the American 
Victories, ON LAND, on the lakes, and on the ocean. 
Indeed Mr. Cobbett deserves a statue of gold and the eratitude 
of every true American, for boldly vindicating, (though sur- 
rounded with tyrants and traitors, sycophants and slaves) the iust 
cause of our injured and insulted republic, the only one the 
ravages of monarchy and episcopacy has left in the world. 
For my part, though I abhorred Sis writings and pohtics, A.D. 
1798, I cannot find language to express the pleasure I received 
on perusmg the subjoined letters, and the gratitude and vene- 
ration I feel for their author for the same, A. D 1815 The 
; pleasure I participate I wish to communicate to my fellow ci- 
tizens, and gladly would I exhibit to them in particular, and to the 
population of Europe m general, the usurpation and imposition of 
monarchy, was my power equal to my will] 



FROM COBBETT'S WEEKLY REGISTER OP SEP. 10, 1814. 

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. 

^fnericanwar.-^The Times newspaper, which 
was one of the loudest clamourers for this war, now 
observes, '' with deep regret, that it has hngered on, 
!for so many months, without being distinguished 
by any memorable stroke:' If the inflammatory 
|and mahcious writer of that paper already experien- 



V 00 ) 

ces disappointment, what will he experience diirinj 
the months, yea, and perhaps, the years, of thi 
war, which are yet to come *? He, when urging o\ 
the nation to this enterprise, told them, with th 
utmost confidence, that, in a Jeiv xeeeks after wa 
should be commenced, '' tlie boasted American riavi 
would be annihilated/' — Not only has that navj 
not been annihilated, but it has ver}* much increas 
ed. It has annihilated some hundreds of our mer 
chant ships, and has defeated several of our ships o 
war, some of which, after victor\' over them, gain 
ed in the most wonderful manner, it has added t< 
its own number. It is said, that we are build im 
ships to carr}' 64 guns, for the express purpose o 
combatting the American frigates. Ours, it seems 
are to be aiil^ Jrigates also. This is to a\oid th< 
aulcivardness of acknowledging, that oilr frigate* 
are not able to cope with American frigates. Now 
if it should happen that one of these new ^'frigates' 
of ours is beaten and captured by an American fri 
gate, what will then be said '? — For my part, wen 
it with me to cany on the war, I would, after wha 
has passed, resort to no such perilous expedient ai 
this, but would, at once, sends skips of the lifii 
against those formidable frigates, without making 
any apolog}- for so doing. Before the war began, no 
a word were we told about the frisrates. The editor; 
of the limes and the Courier were only impauent 
that these frigates should meet ours upon the sea. 
They said nothing about their stout decks, and theb 
heavy cannon, and their '' great big balls.-' Bu 
the moment that the Americans beat and capturec 
one of our frigates with one of theirs, then we heard 
these editors, and even the " undaunted sons o 
Xeptune," garbed in blue and gold, exclaimin,s 
against the size of the American frigates, and tht 



Ho*^- ccuidtbat be oaL-d an artack in the dark, e- 
pcci'J.:y \rhen it had bttr '.'' reater-ied far }*€ars, and 
■vvheri it was followed :^' " - ;'•----'•- ^ •■• — --^-r"- -"-'- - 
truce, m onier again :. 

Here we have the real or . die war. Ter- 

minate as it his yras its origm. This osig^ 

must not be- : .^rgoiten, TrhEterer e:5^^rt5 art made to 
put it oui of our beads. \M'ie:: -'- ' — ar shall h2%t 
■mded, and we shall sitdov*Ti to .. ^:.. the :: b^v tnis 
origin must be kept steadilv Xy^^yr^ us. 

The TwwE aad Coitrter are sdli labouring : : z : : 
suade us^ that thtse will be a separatwn of tii Ame- 
rican states ; that tiie four New E:. ' ' 
de clare them - ^ " ^ ^ ^ '- "" ;" .-- -'-'-' * - •" 
ernment, ^iii. __. ^ .- . _ . _.._ .. -.. . . __ 
ian(L Now, mvlord. tn^Dd, I ^4e-dg-e mv^e/. 
if aoy st Iv made 

fri^fKk oj -lijv^Y, bj r \ 

&tf Af?^/e5je iliev wouii* v-: . 

qoickiv ^:'T ^- : -7-^ :^ ---'---' .: 

with c _ . 

£i^aod aie '* e. Thej have 

beeo, or at leas: _ - m. stimulated bv veir 

cynrJ r.g : : . - nation ag;airist ]Vfr. 

Mi:^- ^i.. jDu: orjjj let them see the 

rea, ..^.__ :. .... r^ickerings, the Oti^s. tht Quin- 
-vs, &c. ar.d the fail of these men is as cerLuin as 
the return of spring after win^r. It is tk^ by a lar^e 
mijori!}' that even the New England states expose 
the vThr. It is barely " touch end goi''' with the op- 
posiricr.. even there. What man in his st:^ . " *'' :~ 

can place a moment's reliance on it? An^. .._, 

the only purpose that it is likely to answer, is th^t of 
decew?ng us, and inducing us to lea*^^ the New 
JEnglard seapwts safe places Jbr the 7 ofsh:ps 

ofuar, 077(1 theJUtm^ out ofpri:vuteeTi>. l^.z V. ' in^ 

" D 



( 38 ) 

of that part of the union unmolested, while we at- 
tack the southern states, is just what suits Ameri- 
ca. She has, in New England, unmolested ports 
and harbours, out of which to send forth ships of 
war to annoy our trade and engage our navy, and 
into which to carry her rich prizes. The Picker- 
ings, the Otises, &c, I really believe ^ t- ^ ^ 

^ ^- ^ ■:^^^^-:^^^^^^ 

^ iic Ui. ^ ^ ^ti Jie. Jie- -S^- ^ i^ :^.. :^ 
^Tv yfr yf^ ^ 7fc vfT yff ^ -T> ^ ^ ^ yfc 

tIv ifs^ 7|r ■5fc Tfr 77\ 

But, hang them / my lord, they are not worth 
your notice. They talk dig, and hold themselves 
out as of great consequence ; but the?/ are poor 
things* Indeed, my lord, they are. Timothy Pick- 
ering used to be thought a very honest man ; but, 
after he was out of office, he seems to have aban- 
doned himself to the revenge, which his disap- 
pointment created. He had not the virtue to follow 
the example of his venerable employer, Mr. Adams, 
who, upon being out-voted as President, by Mr. 
Jefferson, said, *' I only wished to obtain a majority 
of voices, that 1 might serve my country, and now 
I shall endeavour to serve it by supporting him who 
has that majority." Timothy Pickering, who had 
been, to the astonishment of all the world, his secre- 
tary of state, who was no more fit for the office, 
than you coachman would be fit for yours, and 
who, of course, was inordinately proud of his sud- 
den and unexpected elevation, became furious at the 
election of Mr. Jefferson, and has been ever since in 
a sort of mad fit, doing a hundred things, for either 
of which, in England, he would be sent to jail for 
a vear or two at least. The truth is that Mr. Adams 
had \\\{: public good soMy in view, and that Timo- 
thy had an eye solely to his private interest, — 
Hence the exactly opposite conduct of the two men. 



{ 39 ) 

when the voice of the country put them both out of 
power. I am sure that your lordship and your col- 
leagues, especially your distinguished colleague 
now at Vienna, would scorn to purchase traitors in 
any country ; but if you were so disposed, if such 
men as the famous captain Henry could possibly 
prevail on you to lay out any of our money, in this 
way, on the other side of the Atlantic, such men, 
though so much applauded in the Times newspa- 
per, would not be worth your purchasing. 

This is the sort of stuff; this is the rubbish, 
which the Times would have us rely upon^ for suc- 
cess against the republic ! I beseech your lordship 
to consider it as it is, the grossest deception that 
ever was attempted to be palmed upon mankind, 
Mr. Madison cannot silence these men. He has no 
sops. He has none of that potent drug, of the pos- 
session of which, SmoUet tells us, sir Robert Wal- 
pole used to boast. They will, therefore, keep on 
barking ; but, my lord, be assured, that they are 
wholly unable to bite. 

I am, &c, WM. COBBETT. 



LETTER VI. 

10 TliL KAIiL OI LIVEIirOOL, ON THE AIVIHUICAN WAR. 

My Lok u — It has all alonij^ been my wish to bCC 
KiiglancI at peace with America. — My reasons for 
this I luivc olten explained ; and the mode I liavc 
])ursued has been this : to endeavour to prove, that 
the grounds oi' hope of success, held out to us by 
such writers as the Walters, are fallacious. The 
(Iwision of the statcsy the impeachment of Mr. Ma- 
dison^ the resistance of taxatio?i, and the various 
other t^rounds of hope, I have endeavoured to show 
were liollow, as much as was the expectation of 
sweeping the ocean of tlie ** lialf a dozen of fir fri- 
gates, with bits of striped bunting at their mast 
heads." — The task of counteracting these delusive 
hopes has increased in arduousness with the pro- 
gress of the war. Ikaten out of one hope, these 
writers have resorted to others ; and, as was the case 
in tlie last American war, pride and shame and 
revenge are mustered up to jorolung a war vvhicli 
policy has abandoned. 

There is now a new delusion on foot. Mr. Wal- 
ter, the ])ropriet()r ol the 'Jwics newspaper, who 
(shocking to think of!) has been a principal actor in 
producing this calamitous war, is now endeavouring 
to persuade the public, that the president of Ameri- 
ca xvill he miahle to raise the force voted by con- 
gress, t(^ complete the regular army of that great 



( 41 ) 

republic to 100,000 men, by way of ballot, or what 
Mr. Walter calls conscription. To be sure, 
this is a measure very well calculated to astound 
such a man as Mr. Walter, who k?iows nothini^; at 
all about the people of America ; who receives all 
his information through the very worst of all possi- 
ble channels ; who appears to be extremely ignorant 
himself; who puljlishes purely for gain ; who de- 
sires to flatter the follies and j)rejudices of his rea- 
ders ; and who, finding himself the gainer by being 
the avowed enemy of freedom, in every part of the 
world, has become, to say nothing of his Ijreeding 
up, a mortal foe to the American government and 
people. Such a man, who hud been led to suppose, 
that the defence of a comUry, like America, was in- 
consistent with freedom, naturally relied uj)on the 
overthrow of the government, the moment it at- 
tempted to raise an army to resist its invaders ; such 
a man would naturally be, as he has been, almost 
smothered in the foam of his own malignity, upon 
seeing a measure like this coolly i)ro])osed by Mr; 
Monroe, (now secretary of war) attentively consid- 
ered by a committee of congress, and smooth) v pas- 
sing into a law, made, or to be made, by the r6Y//and 
not the sham representatives of a free people-, elect- 
ed by that people only a few months before, and 
knowing that they are again to be elected or rejected 
by that same people a few months afterwards. This 
has astounded Mr. Walter. It has, apparently, giv- 
en his brain a shock too rude for its powers of re- 
sistance. It has upset all his calculations ; and he 
is now crying out for a rebellion in America as 
fiercely as he ever cried out for bullets, bayonets, 
halters, and gibbets for the rebels in Ireland ;* but, 
never losing sight of his old object, namely, to de- 
hide thia nation into the hope that the measure rmrU 

D2 



( 42 ) 

faiU and that, therefore, we ought to continue the 
war. 

Despicable, therefore, as this writer may be ; con- 
tennptible as is his stock of understanding; mean 
and mahgnant as may be his motives, his efforts 
merit attention, and call upon us to counteract them 
without loss of time. In doing this, 1 must first 
take the best account I can find of this grand mea- 
sure of the American government, to which has 
been given the name of conscription. The follow- 
ing is the report of the bill as pubfished by Mr. 
Walter himself. 

[Here follows an analysis, of the bill as reported by the military 
committee, on Mr. Monroe's plan. 

Such is the measure which Mr. Walter assures 
us "cannot be carried into effect ; but says, that if it 
could be carried into effect^ would deprive us of Ca- 
nada in less than a year, unless we sent out our 
*' great national hero ;"" and, indeed, that, under the 
bare possibility of such a measure's succeeding, 
" we ought to cast aside all European politics,''^ 
What a change, my lord ! This foolish gentleman 
used to tell us that the Americans would be " re- 
duced^^^ as the old phrase was, in "c Jew xveeks.^^ 
He has often exhausted all his powers of speech to 
convince his readers that this enemy was too despi- 
cable to be treated with in the same sort of way that 
we treat with other nations. There is no expres- 
sion of contempt contained in our copious language, 
which he did not use towards America and her pre- 
sident. And this same foolish Mr. Walter now 
tells us, that so great is this same America, that, in 
■order to meet her with a chance of success, we 
ought " to cast aside all European politics.^^ 

1 beg your lordship, now, to have the patience to 
read Mr/Walters remarks, at full length, upon this 



( 43 ) 

measure of defence in America. The article is of 
consequence ; because, though coming from such 
a source, though proceeding from a son or sons of 
Old Walter, of regency memory, it is what will 
give the cue to almost all the rich people in the me- 
tropolis, and to not a few of those in the country. 
After inserting this article, I will endeavour to show 
its folly and its malice ; and, were the author any 
other than a Walter, I should not be afraid to pro- 
raise to make him hide his head for shame. 

" No certain or official account of the rupture of 
the negociations at Ghent has yet reached this coun- 
try. Private letters, it is true, have been received, sta- 
ting that the American commissioner, Mr. Adams, 
was about to set off for St. Petersburgh, and that 
Mr. Gallatin had proposed that a single indivi- 
dual on each side should be left at Ghent to take 
advantage of any opening for renewing the negoci- 
ation ; but both these statements are at variance 
with those contained in other letters of the latest 
date from Ghent, received by the French mail of 
yesterday, according to which the diplomatic inter- 
course still continued. We repeat, that we do not 
think this the point to which the public attention 
ought to be directed. We should look not to the 
fallacious terms of an artful negociation ; but to the 
infaUible evidence of our enemy's mind and inten- 
tions displayed in his conduct. The bill for a con^ 
scriptmi of the whole American population is a 
measure that cannot be mistaken. While such a 
bill is in progress, and before it is known whether 
the people will submit to its being carried into ex- 
ecution, it would be madness to expect a peace. — 
It would be madness to expect a peace with per- 
sons who have made up their minds to propose so 
desperate a measure to their countrymen : for either 



( 44 ) 

they must succeed, and then the intoxication of 
their pride will render them utterly intractable ; or 
(which, is indeed, more probable) they must fail, 
and their failure must precipitate them from power, 
and consequently render treating with them impos- 
sible. When an American gentleman of splendid 
attainments, some years since, composed his cele- 
brated review of the conscription code of that mon- 
ster Buonaparte, he could not possibly foresee that 
his own country would, in so short a time, be sub- 
ject to the same barbarous huniiliation. The prime 
and flower of the American citizens are to be taken 
by lot ! and delivered over to the marshals, who are 
to deliver them over to the officers authorised to 
receive them, who are to act at the discretion and 
under the arbitrary direction of the President. Thus 
does Mr. Madison, from a simple republican ma- 
gistrate, suddenly start up a militari/ despot of the 
most sanguinary character — & double of the blood 
thirsty wretch at Elba. We are convinced that 
this sudden and violent shock to all republican feel- 
ings, to all the habits Of the people in all parts of 
the union, cannot be made with impunity. Certain 
it is that this law cannot stand alone. To give it 
the least chance of being put in execution, it must 
be accompanied with all the other chapters of that 
bloody code by which France was disgraced, and 
barbarised, and demoralised. Who is to hunt 
down the refractory conscripts ? Who is to drag 
them, chained together in rows, to the head quar- 
ters of the military division ? Who is to punish 
them, their parents, relations, and friends ? Even 
Buonaparte was many years in bringing to its dia- 
bolical perfection the machinery of his system ; and 
carefully as Mr. Monroe may have studied in that 
accursed school, it cannot be supposed that he has. 



■ ( 45 ) 

at one flight, placed himself on a level with his great 
instructor. It is highly probable that many of the 
men who have laboured in the details of oppression 
and violence under the disturber of Europe, may 
have bv this time, made tiieir wav to America, 
where they will doubtless receive a cordial wel- 
come from Mr. Madison, and be set to work to ri- 
vet the collar on the necks of the American citizens; 
but we own, that, ** with all appliances and means 
to boot," the President, in our opinion, must fail. 
Nevertheless, it would be most dangerous to suffer 
such an opinion to produce the slightes relaxation 
in our efforts. The British government should act 
as if it saw Mr. Monroe at the head of his hundred 
thousand regulars, well disciplined and equipped, 
carrying the war, as he distinctly threatens he will 
do, into the very heart of Canada. Late as it is, 
we must awake. Eight months ago the duke of 
Wellington, with his army, might have fallen like 
a thunderbolt upon the Washington cabinet, leav- 
ing them no time for conscriptions, no means of 
collecting French officers to discipline their troops, 
no opportunity to intrigue for friendship and sup- 
port among the continental powers of Europe. It 
is not yet too late for striking a decisive blow ; but 
that blow must be struck with all our heart and 
with all our strength. Let us but conceive the 
proposed hundred thousand regulars embodied in 
the course of the ensuing spring. Does any one 
believe that, without a mighty effort on our part, 
the Canadas could be retained another year ? — 
Would not the exultation of seeing himself at the 
head of such a force urge Mr. Madison, at all ha- 
zards, to complete his often-tried invasion? Even 
if his scheme should but partially succeed, and 
he should be only able to drag on a defensive war 



( 46 ) 

for another twelve months, who knows what allies 
that period may stir up for him, under the folse 
pretences of regard for neutral rights, and for the 
liberty of the seas? On our side, to conclude a 
peace at the present moment would be to confess 
ourselves intimidated by the warlike preparations of 
the enemy. It seems, therefore, that we have but 
one path to follow. Whatever was the force des- 
tined to act against America before this daring 
BILL of Mr. Monroe was thought of, let that force 
instantly be doubled; let iis cast aside all European 
politics that cross this great and paramount object 
of our exertions. Let a general of commanding 
name be at once despatched to the seat of war. We 
have often said, and we repeat it, that America is a 
scene on which the duke of Wellington's talents 
might be displayed far more beneficially to his 
country, than they can possibly be in the courtly 
circles of the Thuilleries : but if his grace must ne- 
cessarily be confined to the dull round of diploma- 
tic business, at least let some officer be sent, whom 
the general voice of the army may designate as 
most like in skill and enterprise to our great na- 
tional hero. Fatal experience has shewn us, that 
no effort of such an enemy is to be overlooked. 
When the flag of the Guerriere was struck, we saw 
in it that disastrous omen which has since been but 
too sadly verified on the ocean and the lakes. The 
triumphs of the American navy have inspired even 
their privateers with remarkable audacity. The 
present papers mention the cruises of the Peacock, 
the Chasseur, and the Mammoth, all of which were 
very successful, and all ventured on the coasts of 
England and Ireland ! The two latter being Ame- 
rican built, outsailed every thing that gave them 
chasCe This is a circumstance requiring strict at' 



( 47 ) 

tention on the part of the admiralty. Surely there 
must be some discoverable and imitahle cause of a 
celebrity in sailing, which is so important a point 
in naval tactics. Mr. Fulton, of Catamaran memory, 
appears to have employed himself on a naval ma* 
chine of singular powers. It is described as a 
steam frigate, and is intended to carry red hot shot 
of one hundred pounds weight. When we remem- 
ber how contrary to expectation was the tremend- 
ous effect of the batteries of the Dardanelles, wc 
cannot entirely dismiss from our minds all appre. 
hension of the effect of this new machine of Mr. 
Fulton's," 

Before I proceed to inquire into the justice of 
these charges against Mr. Monroe's bill, I cannot 
refrain from noticing, in a particular manner, one 
phrase of this article. Mr. Walter (for hire he 
whom he will to write for him, he is the author) 
calls the bill " this daring bill of Mr. Monroe's." 
Mr. Walter is no grammarian, my lord ; nor is it 
necessary that he should be, to qualify him for ad- 
dressing such people as the well-attired rabble of 
England, who are his readers. But this is not the 
thing that I have in view : I want your lordship to 
mark the word " daring," as applied to this bill; 
as if it were a thing which the repubhc ought not 
to think of without our permission \ as if it were 
like the act of a servant taking up a sword and 
challenging his master; as if it were a trait of i?iso- 
lence unbearable in a nation at war with big John 
Bull to take effectual means to resist his attacks on 
their shores : as if it were audacious in them to pro- 
vide the means of preventing their cities, towns and 
villages, from being plundered or burnt. This Mr. 
Walter, only a few days ago, called Mr. Jefferson 
" liar and slave.'' He has a hundred times called 



( 48 ) 

Mr. Madison a miscreant, a traitor, a liar, a vil- 
lain ; and has as often insisted, that no peace ought 
ever to be made with him. He has frequently in- 
sisted, that Mr. Madison and \i\^ faction (the ma- 
jority of congress) must be hurled from their seats. 
He has called Mr. Jefferson the old serpent. In 
short, it is the next to impossible to think of any 
vile term or epithet, which this author has not ap- 
plied to the American President and the majority 
of that congress, which is the real representation of 
the American people. And yet he has the cool 
impudence to speak of this bill, this measure of - 
defence^ as if it were something insole?2t towards us. 

The truth is, my lord, w^e have so long had to deal 
with East Indians and Portuguese, and Spaniards 
and Italians, and Germans and Dutchmen and Rus- 
sians, and Imperialist Frenchmen, that we are quite 
spoiled for a dealing with the Americans. We have 
at last ar/ived at such a pitch, that we regard it as 
insolence in any people even to talk of resisting us. 
Mr. Walter is in this respect, but the mouth-piece 
of his readers. We must correct ourselves as to 
this way of thinking and talking, if the war with 
America continue ; or we shall be exposed to the 
derision of the whole world. 

Now, then, as to Mr. Monroe's measure, Mr. 
Walter describes it as a conscription ; says, that it 
will subject the people to barbarous humiliation; 
says, that it makes the president a military despot 
of the most sanguinary character ; asks, who is to 
chain the conscripts and drag them to the head- 
quarters of tlie military division ; calls the raising 
of this force putting a collar on the necks of the 
Ainerican citizens. 

These are the charges which Mr. Walter prefers 
against this grand measure of the republic, and he 



( 61 ; 

number of their crews ! We should have thought 
of all this before we talked of annihilathig the Ame- 
rican navy in a few weeks. The merchants and 
underwriters are now petitioning the lords of the ad- 
miralty and the prince regent to protect them more 
effectually against this " contemptible American na- 
vy," which, it seems, has already destroyed their 
property to the amount of millions, and some of 
the ships of which are said to blockade, in some 
sort, part of our harbours in England and Ireland, 
and are capturing our ships within the sight of land! 
These gentlemen should have petitioned against the 
•war. So far from that, many of them were eager 
for the war ; and, do they think that they are to en- 
joy the gratification of seeing the American towns 
knocked down without paying some little matter 
for it ? That the admiralty are employing a great 
many ships and sailors in this war our next year's 
taxes and loans will fully convince us ; but nume- 
I'ous as their ships and sailors are, they are not, 
and cannot be, sufficient to cover all the ocean. 

The farmers and landholders, and fund holders, 
are sighing for the repeal of taxes : but how are 
they justified in this wish, when it is well known 
that to carry on the war, taxes are absolutely neces- 
sary ; and w^hen it is also well kno^vn, that those 
persons were, in general, anxious for the w^ar? 
Some of them want war to prevent their produce 
from falling in price ; others liked peace with France 
well enough; but, then, they wished "to give the 
Yankees a drubbing.'' Therefore, if to keep up 
the price of produce, and to give the Yankees U 
drubbing, taxes are wanted, with what decency can 
these persons expect that taxes will be taken off? 
Do we obtain any thing that we want without pay- 
mg for it, in some way or other ? If we want food 

F 



( 62 ) 

or raiment, or houses, or pleasure^ do we flbt ex- 
pect to pay for them ? Can we go to see a play or 
a puppet show without money ? Why, then, are 
we to expect to see the greater pleasure of seeing 
the Yankees drubbed without paying for that too ? 
The public seem very impatient to see the drub- 
bing begin. The Times and the Courier have been 
endeavouring to entertain them for a long while 
and until they, as well as the audience, appear ex- 
hausted. But is it not reasonable that the public 
should, in this case, as well as in all others, put down 
their money previously to the drawing up of the cur- 
tain ? In a year or two perhaps, we shall see the 
drama commence in good earnest. But, is it not 
enough to be amused with a little dancing and tum- 
bling on the outside before we have paid our mo- 
ney ?— " Send ! Send away," says the eager editor 
of the Timesy " send away a force to crush them at 
once ! But not a word does he say about the 
taxes necessary to pay for the sending and keeping 
up such a force. 

Our government is composed of wonderfully 
clever men ; but they are not clever enough to make 
soldiers walk upon the waters over the Atlantic, nor 
to enact, at a word, loaves and fishes to^ sustain 
them after their arrival. To be able to send that 
** overwhelming force" of which the Times speaks, 
the government must have money ; and, as in all 
other cases, they must have the money ^r^^. In 
short, it is unreasonable in the extreme to expect 
the war in America to be attended with any very 
signal result, until we have liberally paid two or 
three years of taxes. The assertion is again made, 
that the American ships are manned principally with 
Efighsh, Irish and Scotch. I find this assertion in 
the Morning Chronicle of the 6th instant. If this 



( 63 ) 

were true, as I hope it is not, what a pleasant and 
honourable fact this war would have brought to 
light ? — No other than this : that many of our sea- 
men, our ** gallant tars," the ** undaunted sons of 
Neptune," not only have no dishke to the Ameri- 
cans, but actually have run the risk of being hang- 
ed, drawn and quartered, for the sake of fighting in. 
the American service against their own country ! 
If the world believe these accounts, what must 
the world think of us? During the long war in 
which France was engaged, no Frenchmen were 
ever found in arms against their king and country. 
Some of them, indeed, embodied themselves under 
foreign banners to fight, as they pretended, at least, 
Jbr their country, and against those whom they call- 
ed the usurpers of its government. But, if these 
accounts be true, our countrymen have voluntarily 
gone into the American service to fight against 
their country, that country being under the legiti- 
mate sway of the glorious and beloved house of 
Brunswick ! the origin of these accounts, so dis- 
graceful to the country, is probably, the reluctance 
which our naval officers have to confess defeat at 
the hands of those yankees^ whom we were so de- 
sirous to see drubbed. To avoid this painful ac- 
knowledgment, it has been asserted, that we have 
not been beaten by the yankees, but by our own 
brave countrymen. — But, here again, a difficulty 
arises ; for how comes it to pass, that our own 
brave countrymen have more success on board yan- 
kee ships than on board of our own heart of oak ? 
How comes it to pass, that the men on bodi sides, 
being precisely of the same race and education, those 
in the yankee ships should beat those in " the wood- 
en walls of Old England ?*' It has been observed, 
that they fight more desperately, knowing that they 



( 64 ) 

light with a halter about their necks. What an as- 
persion on " the sons of Neptune !'* As if the sons 
of Neptune, the gallant jack tars of Old England 
wanted a halter round their necks, and the gallows 
and executioner's knife before their eyes, to make 
them do more in battle than they are ready to do 
for the sake of their king and country, and from a 
sentiment of honour ! This is, really, giving a cruel 
stab to the character of our sailors ; but such is the 
sorry malignity of those who publish these accounts 
of treasonable practices, that they entirely overlook 
these obvious inferences, in their anxiety to get rid 
of the supposition that any thing praise worthy be- 
longs to the character of the enemy. 

If these accounts be true, as I hope they are not, 
why are not the traitors tried and executed ? Why 
are they suffered to remain in the American ser- 
vice ? Why are they suffered to go on thus, shout- 
ing at, boarding, and taking our ships, insulting 
our gallant officers, and putting our men in irons ? 
Why are they not, I ask again, tried and hanged? 
Why are not their warm bowels ripped out and 
thrown in their traitorous faces ? Why are there bo- 
dies not cut into quarters, and those quarters placed 
at the king's disposal ? — But, I had forgotten, that 
before these things can be done, we must capture 
the ships in which they sail ! Is there no other way 
of coming at them ? It were well if those, whose 
business it is to enforce the law against state crim- 
inals, would fall upon some scheme to reach them. 
Cannot the parliament, which has been called om- 
nipotent^ find out some means of coming at them ? 
In short, these accounts are a deep disgrace to the 
country ; and I do hope, that the lords of the admi- 
ralty, who published that eloquent paper, stimulat- 
ing the sailors to fight against the Americans, will 



( 65 ) 

fall speedily upon some means of i>utting an end to 
so great a scandal. I have not time, at present, to 
enter so fully into the subject of the American war 
as I shall in ray next ; but to the loose observations 
that I have made, I cannot refrain from adding a 
word or two on the rupture of the negociations a 
Ghent, which is said to have taken place. Who, 
in his senses, expected any other result ? It was 
manifest, from the moment that Napoleon was re- 
moved from France, that the war with America was 
destined to become a serious contest. There were 
all sorts of feelings at work in favour of such a war. 
There was not a single voice (mine only excepted) 
raised against it. Was it to be supposed, then, that 
peace would be the work of a few months ? Yet this 
rupture of the negociations appears to have excited 
a good deal of surprise, not wholly divested of a 
small portion of alarm. It was expected that the 
yankee commissioners would jump at peace on any 
terms. There were thousands of persons, and well 
dressed persons too, who said that the yankees 
would not hesitate a moment to depose Mr. Madi» 
son, and send him to some little uninhabited islands 
About a fortnight ago some rifle soldiers were pas- 
sing my house, in their way from Sussex to Ply- 
mouth, to join their corps, bound to America. A 
sergeant, who "was at a little distance behind the 
party, stopped at my door and asked for some beer. 
While the beer was drawing, I observed to him, 
that Jonathan must take care now what he was 
about. '' No,'' said the sergeant, " I do not think 
it will come to any head ; for we learned the day 
before yesterday, that Madison had run away?'' i 
asked him if they had l^en informed whither he 
had run to. He replied, that he had run "-' out of 
the country,'''^ He further told me that we were to 

F 2 



( 66 ) 

have an army of 50,000 men, for the conquest of 
America ; and that, if they were not enough, Rus^ 
sia had 60,000 men ready to send to our assis- 
tance. From this the Americans will judge of 
the opinions of the people here ; for I dare say, that 
this sergeant was no more than the mere repeater of 
what he heard in almost all the public houses, re- 
sorted to by politicians of the most numerous class 
— but the people are not to be blamed for this de- 
lusion. They had it given them, in the report of a 
speech of one of the lords of the admiralty, not long 
ago, that we were about to undertake the deposing 
of Mr. Madison ; and who can blame them, if they 
believe that this deposition has taken place ? My 
friend, the sergeant, on whom I bestowed my be- 
nediction, will, however, I am afraid, find, that this 
work of deposing Mr. Madison will give more 
trouble than he appeared to expect. 



FROM COBBETT'S WEEKLY REGISTEll OF SEPTEMBER 24. 

American War, — The following account of a 
battle, and of a victory^ on our part, gained over 
the Americans, is, perhaps, the most curious of any 
that ever was published, even in this enlightened 
Lancaster- school country. Before I insert it, let 
me observe, that the scene of action lies in the heart 
of Canada^ though, from the accounts that we have 
had, any one, not armed against the systemof de- 
ception that prevails here, must have supposed, 
that there was not a single American remaining in 



( 67 ) 

Canada. The victory in question is said to have 
been gained near the famous falls of Niagara ; and 
we shall now see what sort of victory it was, ac- 
cording to the account of the commander himself, 
and which account will become a subject of remark, 
after I have inserted it, 

[Here he inserts the British official account of the battle of the 25th 
July, in which they a(3iniit a loss of killed 84 — wounded 559 — missing 
193— prisoners 42. Tbtal 878.] 

Was I not right, reader, in calling this a curious 
account ? Did you ever before hear, except from 
the mouths or pens of some of our own comman- 
ders, of a victory of this sort before ? It is a fault 
which I have always to point out in our histories of 
battles, that we never begin as the historians of all 
other countries do, by stating the strength of the 
armies on both sides. We are left here to guess at 
the force in the field. We are not told what was 
even our own strength on the occasion. If we' had 
been furnished with this information, we should 
have been able to judge pretty correcdy of the na- 
ture of the combat, and of the merits of the two 
armies. When we find that there has been a total 
loss of 878 men, including a vast proportion of ofp- 
cers, we must conclude that the '* drubbing''^ has 
been on the Americans only ; for the army under 
gen. Drummond did not, in all probability, amount 
to more than three or four thousand men ! There 
appears to have been only four battalions of regu- 
lars engaged^ which would hardly surpass 2000 
men. What the militia might have amounted to I 
cannot tell; but as far as I am able to judge from 
the account, I should suppose that we have lost, on 
this occasion, one man out of every five ; so that 
this is a sort of victory that is very costly, at any 
rate. But, except in victpries of this kind, who- 



( 68 ) 

ever heard before of such numbers of missing and 
prisoners on the part of the victors ? When armies 
are defeated, they have, generally pretty long lists 
of missing and prisoners ; but when they gain a 
victory, and, of course, remain masters of the spot 
on which the battle has taken place, how odd it is 
to hear that they have so many people taken and 
losty the latter of whom they can give no account 
6f ! And, especially, how odd it is, that so many 
of these taken and lost persons should be officers^' 
and officers of very high rank too ! Never, surely, 
was there before, a victory attended with circum- 
stances so much resembling the usual circumstan- 
ces of a defeat. The commander severely wound- 
ed; the second in command severely wounded, and 
made prisoner into the bargain : the aid-de-camp to 
the commander made prisoner ; several colonels 
and lieutenant colonels wounded ; a great number 
of officers and men missing and made prisoners. If 
such be the marks of a victory gained over the 
Americans, I wonder what will be the marks of a 
defeat, if, unhappily, we should chance to experi- 
ence a defeat ? At any rate, taking the matter in 
the most favourable light, what a bloody battle this 
must have been ! To be sure that is a considera- 
tion of little weight with the enemies of freedom, 
who would gladly see half England put to death, if 
they could thereby have their desire of exterminat- 
ing freedom in America gratified. But this is not 
all. The battle has not merely been bloody, but 
it has afforded a proof of the determined courage of 
the American army^ and leads us to believe, that if 
we persevere, the contest will be long as well as 
bloody ; and it is the length of the contest that we 
have to fear. — The malignant wise man, who writes 
in the Times newspaper, expresses great sorrow 



( 69 ) 

that the '* heroes of Toulouse" were not arrived in 
Canada previous to the late victory. But what 
could they have done more than to render the 
** success of our arms complete .^" And this, we 
are told, was the case without their assistance. 

The same writer, in the same paper, complains 
of the sovereign of Holland for sending an ambas- 
sador to Mr, Madison, and observes, that, if he 
had waited ^few months, he might have been spar- 
ed the humiliation of i^ending an embassy to Mr. 
Madison and his set. Hence it would appear that 
this wise man gives our fleets and armies but *' a 
Jew months^"^ to conquer America. It was thus 
that the same sort of men talked in the memorable 
times of Burgoyne and Cornwallis. But, in those 
times, America had not a population of two 
millions ; she had no government ; the greater part 
of her sea-ports were in our hands ; we had a fourth 
part of the people for us ; and the re^t were with- 
out money, and almost without clothing and arms. 
I shall not deny that we may, by the expenditure of 
two or three hundred millions of money y do the 
Americans a great deal of mischief. 1 dare say 
that we shall burn some of their towns, and drive 
some thousands of women and children back from 
the coast. But, in the mean while, America will 
be building and sending out ships ; she will be 
gaining experience in the art and practice of war ; 
she will be pushing on her domestic trade and ma- 
nufactures ; she will be harrassing our commerce 
to death ; and our taxes will be encreasing, and an- 
nual loans must still be made. It is provoking, to 
be sure, but it really is so j that we must leave the 
Americans in the enjoyment of their real liberty ; 
in the enjoyment of freedom, which is no sha?n ; 
must be content to see their country the asylum of 



( 70 ) 

^n those in Europe whe will not brook oppression ; 
we must be content to see America an example to 
every people, who are impatient under despotism, 

or or (dreadful alternative !) we must 

be content to pay all our present taxes^ and to have 
new ones added to them / Nay, after having, for 
several years, made these new sacrifices in the 
cause of ^^ regular government, social order, and 
our holt/ religion,^ ^ it may, possibly, happen, at last, 
that America will remain *unhurt ; that, having 
been compelled to learn the art of war, she may be- 
come more formidable than ever ; and that, in the 
end, her fleets^ in the space of ten years, may dis- 
pute with ours that trident, which we now claim as 
our exclusive property. Already do we hear per- 
sons, who were so eager for giving the " yankees 
a hearty drubbing ;" ask why this is not done ? — 
They are already impatient for the conclusion, be- 
fore the beginning has well taken place. They 
ask why the heroes of Toulouse were not at the 
late victory ? How unreasonable this is ! Just as 
if the government could convey them in a balloon ! 
Besides, were those heroes to have no time for re- 
pose ? Were they to be set on the moment they 
had been taken off? The government, to do it 
justice, have lost no time. They have sent out 
men as fast as they could get them ready. But it 
requires time to transport men, and guns, and hor- 
ses, and oats, and hay, and straw, to America ; to 
say nothing about bread, and beef, and pork, and 
butter, and peas, and rice. Nay, we see that they 
had to send out the timbers for ships to Canada, 
where, one would have supposed, there was wood 
enough, at any rate. If we were to get possession 
of New- York I should not be at all surprised to hear 
that the ministers were sending fuel thither for the 



( 71 ) 

cooking of the men's victuals. This is very differ- 
ent from what was seen in Portugal, Spain, and 
France. We shall find no partisans in America ; 
and especially shall we find nobody to take up 
^rms in our cause. All must ^ofrom this country. 
It IS a war of enormous expense ; and we must 
expect to pay that expense. If it comes to a close 
m seven years, I shall think that we have very good 
luck. The troops who are going out now, and 
who have been held in readiness to go out for so 
long a time, will hardly be able to pull a tri^^er 
before next June. By that time the Americans wiU 
have half a million of men, and free men too in 
arms, and who is to subdue half a million of men 
armed for the defence of their freedom and their 
homes ? how did the people of France as lon^ as 
the sound of freedom cheered their hearts, drive 
back, hunt, and lash their invaders. And, have 
the Americans less courage, or less activity! than 
the French ? How silly is it, then, to expect to con- 
quer America in *«a few months !"_It is a little 
strange that the government have published no ex^ 
traordinary gazette, giving an account of the q-reat 
' victory, of which we have been speaking. Thev 
are not, in general, backward in doing justice to our 
winners of victories. But it is useless to say much 
about It. Time will unfold the truth ; and accord 
mg to all appearance, we shall have time enough to 
ieam all about the events, as well as the effects of 
tne war against the republicans of America It is 
strange, that we have no account of the exact num^ 
bers of the prisoners that we ourselves have made. 
It myajficers had been taken by us, would thev not 
have been named? And if we have taken no officers 
while tne Americans have taken so many of ours! 
wiiat manner of victory is this. 



FROM COBBETT'S REGISTER OF OCTOBER 29, 1814. 

American War, — I have, from the first, express- 
ed my apprehensions as to the end of this war. I 
used the utmost of my endeavours to prevent it. 
While shut up in a prison, out of v^hich, at the end 
of two long years, I went, with the paying of a thou- 
sand pounds TO THE KING, for having had the in- 
discretion to write about the flogging of English lo- 
cal militiamen, at the town of Ely, in England, and 
about the presence of Hanoverian troops upon that 
occasion ; while so shut up, the greatest object of 
my efforts was to prevent this ill-fated war, the seeds 
of which I saw sown, and the maturity of which I 
saw pushed on by those malignant and foul wretch- 
es, the writers of the Times and Courier newspapers, 
l^his was the way in which 1 employed my days and 
years of imprisonment — my efforts were all in vain. 
In vain did I show the falsehood of the statements 
and the doctrines on which the war whoopers pro- 
ceeded, in vain did I appeal to the reason, and justice, 
and even to the interest of a people, deluded into a 
sort of furor against America. At last the war took 
place, and the disgrace which we suffered at sea 
completed the madness of the nation, who seemed 
to have no other feeling than that of mortification 
and revenge. What ! should the people be suffer- 
ed to live ? Should tliev be suffered to exist in the 



( 73 ) 

world, who had defeated and captured a British fru 
gate ? Should those, who had caused the British 
Hag to be hauled down^ not be exterminated ? Dis- 
appointment ; astonishment ; fury ! The nation was 
mad. " Rule Britannia ^'^^ the constant call of the 
boasting rabble at places of public resort, was no 
longer called for vvdth such eagerness, and vvas heard 
with less rapture. The heroes in blue and buff car- 
ried their heads less lofty. Their voices seemed to 
become more faint, and their port less majestic. 
They seemed to feel, as men of honour would, up- 
on such an occasion. In sliort, we all felt, that a 
new era had taken place in the naval annals of the 
world. 

Still, howe\'er, the dread of the pouer of Napo- 
leon restrained many from a wish to see us embark- 
ed in a war for the conquest of America. But, he 
w^as scarcely subdued by the combined efforts of all 
Europe, when this whole nation cried aloud for war 
a war of punishment^ against the American states. 
And, it was openl)^ declared in the most popular of 
our newspapers, that we ought never to sheath the 
sword, till we had subjugated the states, or, at least, 
subverted their form of government. The pernicious 
example of the existence of a republic^ founded on 
a revolution^ was openly declared to be inconsistent 
with the saftty of our government. It w^as, besides 
distinctly alleged, that, now^ noxv, rjorVy or ?iever 
was the time to prevent America from ever having 
a navy. The necessity of destroying her means of 
having a navy has since been repeatedly urged. It 
has been stated and restated, that our naval power 
must soon come to an end unless we now destroy 
this republic, root and branch. The defeat and cap- 
ture of our fleet, and the defeat of our army on and 
near Lake Champlain^ (of which I shall speak more 

G 



( 74 ) 

particularly hereafter) have not at all softened the 
language of the public prmts. The 7 'zwt?^ newspa- 
per, of the 9th inst. calls it '' a lamentable evil to 
the CIVILIZED WORLD ; by which appellation 
these writers al way s mean kingly governments. 
The writer then adds: " Next to the annihilation of 
** the late military despotism in Europe, the sub- 
** version of that system of fraud and malignity, 
** which constitutes the whole policy of the Jeffer- 
** sonian school, was an event to be devoutly wish- 
** ed by every man in either hemisphere, who re- 
** gards rational liberty, or the honourable inter- 
** course of nations. It was an event, to which we 
" should have bent, and yet must bend all om en r- 
'* gies. The Aiyierican government must be di^- 
** placed^ or itwili, sooner or letter^ plant its poisoned 
** dagger in the heart of the parent state J^"* Sooner 
or lattr you see ! The gentleman looks into fntu- 
riti/. He does not even hint at any teiiris of peace. 
He plainly says, that we most displace the govern- 
ment of America; that is to say, change it^ form and 
nature; subjugate the country, re-colonize it, re-pos- 
sess it. Now mind, the opposition prints do not find 
fault with this. They do not deprecate such an object 
of the war. — They surpass even their adversaries in 
exulting at the burnings and plunderings. — They 
find fault, that more mischief has not been done. 

Thus, then, we see what the nation regards as the 
object of the war. I say the nation^ because the 
Morning Chronicle^ which is the organ of the oppo- 
sition, is just as bitter against America, as are the 
Times and the Courier. — The truth is, that the only 
opposition, as to the war, will arise out of our fail- 
ures. The opposition will only blame the minis- 
ters for not having burnt more ships, plundered 
more towns, and done more mischief. There is. 



( 75 ) 

indeed, a sort of dread of the length of the war. — 
People are a little disappointed^ that Mr. Madison 
is not yet deposed ; that the states have not yet sepa- 
rated : that our sons of noble famiHes are not yet 
wanted to go out as governors and captains gene 
ral to Pennsylvania, New- York, Massachusetts, 
Virginia, &c. &c. that it will require another cam- 
paign to bring the deluded Americans to their sen- 
ses ; that (and here is the pinch) the income tax will 
be wanted another year^ and that another loan must 
be made. But, *' what is one more year of expense 
at the end of 22 years of war ? And then it will give 
us such lasting peace and security." Thus is fear 
hushed; and when, in addition, the thought of our 
defeated and captured frigates come athwart the 
mind, the income tax is forgotten, and vengeance, 
^var, and blood, is the cr}^ 

I now proceed to notice more particularly the 
events, which have reached our knowledge since 
the date of my last article upon the subject. — The 
plundering of Alexandria appears to have been the 
most successful of our enterprises. The American 
papers give our people great credit for their talent 
at the emptying of shops^ and the embarkation of 
their contents, at which, to do our army and navy 
[especially the latter] but bare justice, we seem to 
have been uncommonly adroit. It seems, however, 
that the squadron, which had the plunder aboard, 
had but a narrow escape in descending the Chesa- 
peake ; but, plunder there was, and a good deal of 
it : and there can be but little doubt, that the success 
and profit of the enterprise will act as great encour- 
agement to future undertakings of a similar de- 
scription; the only danger being, that the zeal of our 
commanders may push them on faster, than a due 
regard to their safety might otherwise dictate, — In 



( 76 ) 

an attempt against Baltimore we failed. That is to 
say, we met with a defeat. Not in the field ; but 
that is nothing to the purpose. We marched and 
sailed against the town with all our forces, by sea 
and land, and ^ve were compelled to retreat without 
doing any thing against that town. The town is 
safe; and, if the war end as this expedition has end- 
ed, all the world will agree, that America has de- 
feated us. We may be sure of this ; and, there- 
fore, we must carry on the war, till we have subdu- 
ed America ; or, we must make up our minds to 
the reputation of having been defeated by that re- 
public. A pretty serious alternative : but it is one 
which must and will exist, and of this we shall be- 
come more and more sensible every day, and parti- 
cularly if we attend to what foreigners say upon the 
subject. 

The expedition of our troops and fleet against 
Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot is of a nature 
so trifling as hardly to be worthy of notice. — That 
territory is no more important in America, than the 
isle of Sky is in Great Britain. It is a conquest, 
and so would the isle of sky be by an American 
privateer. What a figure does this conquest make 
in the Gazette ! What a grand afllur it appears to 
be ! But, did a thousandth part of the people of 
England ever hear of Passamaquoddy or Penob- 
scot before ? It is Baltimore, Charleston, Wil- 
mington, Norfolk, Philadelphia, New- York, Bos- 
ton, that they have heard of. They have been led 
to believe, that the city of Washington is to Ame- 
rica what London is to England, or what Paris is 
to France. Nothing can be more fallacious. There 
are, perhaps, two hundred towns in America, each 
of which is more populous and rich than Wash- 
ington was, or than it was likely ever to be. Be- 



( 77 ) 

sides, we did not keep possession of ^^^lshingto^, 
as the Germans and Russians did of Paris. We 
did not remain there to erect a new government. — 
^Ve only set fire to a few buildings and then re- 
treated. If an American privateer were to set fire 
to a few fishing huts on the coast of Wales, should 
we look upon it as a very brilliant affliir ? Yet this 
Washington enterprise was, by the Morning Chro- 
nicle, deemed the most gallant dash of the war ! 
In the '' demonstration," as admiral Cochrane calls 
it, against Baltimore, gen. Ross was killed ; and 
some of our papers call X\\\s foul play ! " Theye*/- 
/ow," says one of them, " took aim at the gallant 
Ross from behind some brush wood,'*'* Well, 
and what then ? Do not our troops shoot from 
behind parapets, and walls, and works of all sorts ? 
And do we suppose, that the Americans will not 
make use of a bush when it comes in their way ? — 
If this crying tone be to be indulged in, we shall, I 
fear, cry our eyes out before the war be over. We 
have sent our bombs, and rockets, and rifles, and 
all sorts of means , of destruction ; our writers 
blame our ministers for not sending the means of 
knocking down towns fast enough, and shall we 
abuse poor Jonathan if he avail himself of a bush, 
and of his skill at hitting a mark ? Gen. Ross 
burnt their president's house, and a yankee shot 
gen. Ross. These are things which naturally oc- 
cur ; and, however, we may lament the death of 
any officer, we must reflect that an invaded people 
will shoot at their invaders, unless the former are 
ready to receive the latter as friends. 

Before I proceed to notice the late aflTair on and 
near Lake Champlain, there are some remarks to be 
bestowed on certain characteristic facts which have 
leaked out^ and on certain paragraphs in our news- 

G2 



( 78 ) 

papers. The Americans are accused of coxvardice 
for having retreated before inferior numbers and ta- 
ken shelter in Baltimore. Why was this cowar- 
dice ? The main object was to defend that great and 
rich city. The second was to annihilate our army 
and naval force. To make a long stand in the open 
country, with raw troops, against disciplined soldi- 
ers, was not the way to effect either of these pur- 
poses. The main object was effected, and our re- 
treat only, probably, prevented the effecting of the 
latter. The Times newspaper, a few days ago, re- 
marking on the cowardice of the Americans, con- 
trasted with the bravery of our army and navy, ob- 
served that the cause was, that they had no feelings 
of patriotism ; that they cared 7iothmg about their 
country. Now, what is the ground of this war ? — 
Why, we complained that the Americans harboured 
deserters from our navy : and they complained that 
\\^ forced native Americans into our service. This 
fact is notorious to all the world. This fact is re- 
corded in our own official documents. This fact 
makes a part of unquestionable history. Another 
fact has just been recorded by this said Times 
newspaper ; namely, that two of our seamen were 
hanged, on board the fleet in the Chesapeake, for 
attempting to desert to the enemy. It is also stated, 
in the same paper (24th Oct.) that about 150 of our 
^^^\zx^ deserted on the retreat from Plattsbura;.— 
Now, let this empty boaster produce instances like 
these, on the side of the Americans, if he can — and 
if he cannot, let him acknowledge himself to be 
either a deluded fool or a deluded knave. But has 
Jonathan shewn no zeal for his country ? What was 
that act of self-devotion which induced a man to 
expose his property to certain, and himself to pro- 
• babie desiruction, by shooting at general Ross and 



( 79 ) 

killing his horse under him, in the city of Wash- 
ington, after the town was in possession of our 
troops ? By what feeling was the man actuated who 
exposed his life for the sake of killing general Ross; 
and who must have been almost alone, since he was 
hidden behind some brushwood ? To what are we 
to impute the capture of 200 young men of the 
** best families in Baltimore," found in the fore 
ground defence of their city ? Was greater courage, 
more desperate devotion to country, ever witnessed 
than at the battle of Chippewa and at Fort Erie ? 
How comes it, that during the last campaign, we 
have lost more officers and men, out of twenty 
thousand employed, than we ever lost in the Euro- 
pean war out of one hundred thousand. From what 
feeling was it that Mr. Madison called, as we are 
told he has, Mr. Riifus King to his counsels, and 
from what feeling is it that Mr. King has accepted 
of the call ? 

The Morning Chronicle, that camelion of this 
war, now boasts that it foretold union against us. 
It never foretold it. It always urged on the war. 
It called, and it was the first to call the burnings of 
Washington a most gallant clash^ — However, it is 
now clear that we have completely united the whole 
country. The bombarding of Stonington in Massa- 
chusetts, and the plundering of Alexandria, in Vir- 
ginia, have done what all the workings of good sense 
and public spirit were not able to effect. Mr. Rufus 
King, whom we regarded as the rival and the impla- 
cable enemy of Mr. Madison, has taken a post under 
him for the defence of his country ; and we shall 
now see that, amongst those whom we thought our 
friends, we shall find the most resolute enemies. 
Stonington and Alexandria will be constantly before 
every American's eyes. I always was opposed to 



( 80 ) 

the war, and to this mode of warfare especially. I 
knew it would produce that which it has produced. 
I knew it would render the breach too wide ever to 
be healed again. I knew that it would produce 
either the total subjugation of America, which I 
thought impossible, or our final defeat in the eyes of 
the world, with the ulterior consequence of seeing 
America a most formidable naval power, which the 
recent events on the borders of Canada seem but too 
manifestly to portend. It is quite surprising to what 
an extent this nation has been, and still is deluded, 
with regard to America, and to the nature and effect 
of this war. It is only fifteen days ago that the 
Courier newspaper contained the following para- 
graph : 

" There were reports last night of our having at- 
tacked and taken New London, and destroyed the 
city of Baltimore. Both these events are probable, 
but there are no arrivals from America later than 
the last despatches from Admiral Cochrane, dated 
on the 3d of last month. But as the wind has been 
fair for some days we hourly expect a fresh arrival. 
It must bring news of the greatest importance — 
intelligence from Canada — another attack upon 
Fort Erie — another conflict with gen. Brown — per- 
haps a battle with the American gen. Izard — the 
further operations of admiral Cochrane and general 
Ross — the result of the expedition under general 
Sherbroke — the operations of the Creek Indians 
who had already made their appearance upon the 
frontiers of South Carolina — and " last not least," 
the effect of our late attack upon the minds of the 
American people — the steps taken by Mr. Madison, 
if he yet remains president, and the measures adop- 
ted by these states that were in a ferment against 
the government y even before the disaster, and were 



( 81 ) 

not indisposed to a separation from the other states. 
No arrival from America was ever expected with 
more impatience.'* 

Well, the arrival has taken place. The impati- 
ently expected arrival has taken place. New Lon- 
don has not been attacked. The attack on Baltimore 
h'^is failed. General Ross is killed. Admiral Coch- 
rane has arrived at Halifax for the winter, with the 
plunder of Alexandria. The effect upon the minds 
of the American people has been such as to unite 
even Mr. King with Mr. Madison, who " yet re- 
mains president. " — No new attack has been made 
on Fort Erie, but the army of general Izard at 
Plattsburg has been attacked by our commander in 
chief, with the *' Wellington heroes" under him, 
with the " conquerors of France" under him, while 
the American fleet was attacked by ours ; and not 
only have both attacks failed, but we have experi- 
enced a more complete defeat than, as far as I can 
recollect, we ever before experienced, the notable 
affair of the Helder only excepted. Thinking John- 
ny Bull! You, who were so eager to give the 
yankees a drubbing — you, who were so full of fight 
that nothing but another war would appease you — 
Pray can you tell me how it is that our ministers, 
who have given us such exact accounts about the 
" gallant dashes" at Washington and Alexandria, 
and who have published such loads of despatches 
and proclamations about the conquest of the Pe- 
nobscot territory, not equal in population to the 
parish of St. Martins in the Fields ; can you tell 
me how it has happened that this ministry has not 
received, or at least have not published, the account 
of the land and water battles at Plattsburgh and on 
Lake Champlain, though we have sir George Pre- 
vost's general order, issued after the battle, and 



( 82 ) 

though we have numerous extracts from Canada 
papers, dated many days later than the date of the 
order ! Cannot you tell me this, thinking Johnny 
Bull ! you who, when you heard of the capture of 
Washington City, were for sending out a viceroy 
to the ' American states ? You, who called the 
Americans cowardly dogs, and hailed the prospect 
of a speedy release from the income tax, and the 
payment of the national debt by the sale of lands, 
and by taxes raised in America ? Well, then, m 
waiting/?a^i(?w%for this official account, we must 
content ourselves with what the newspapers tell us 
they have extracted from the papers of Canada. — 
Letters extracted from the American papers make 
our loss dreadful indeed. General Macomb, the 
American commander, is represented to have writ- 
ten to his father, at New- York, telling him that he 
had killed or taken 3000 of our army, and that he 
expected to destroy one half of it. Our newspa- 
pers said that this was false. They also said that 
it was false that we had any thing like a frigate on 
Lake Champlain, though it now appears that we 
had a ship actually mounting 32 guns, and that the 
largest of the American vessels was rated 28 guns, 
and carried, as we say, 30 guns. But let us take, 
for the present, the account of the Canada papers, 
and look with impatience, but with becoming hu- 
mility, to his majesty's ministers for further infor- 
mation. Thus, then, speak the Canadian printers ; 
thus speak the bitterest enemies of America : 

** Montreal Septeinber 15. 
" You have herewith a copy of the general or- 
der of the 13th instant to understand which requires 
more than being able to read it. There never was, 
perhaps, such a composition ; for, without know- 
ing the result, one might be led to think we had 



( 63 ) 

gained a victory. Report says that our hero, on 
passing some of the troops on the road, was hissed 
by them ; and farther, and which I believe to be 
true, that when the order was given for retreating, 
general Power rode up to the commander in chief, 
and begged the order for retreating might be recal- 
led, as gen. Brisbane was about storming the fort 
and would have possession of it in a few minutes 

the reply, it is said, was — *' My orders must be 

obeyed,'' and then a general retreat took place. I 
do not know with any certainty, having heard no 
one speak on the subject, but it will not surprise me 
if we have lost, one way and another, in this dis- 
graceful affair, not less than 800 men. It was a 
fair battle between the fleets : the forts did not play 

on the Confiance and Linnet, as has been stated. 

Capt. Pring, in the Linnet, though aground, is said 
to have fought his vessel for a considerable time 
after the Confiance had struck." 

'* Quebec, September 16. 
" Stories become blacker and blacker, respecting 
our disgrace and misfortunes at Plattsburg. Liet, 
Drew, of the Linnet, is come in here, being paroled 
for fourteen days, states the loss of the fleet to have 
been in a great measure owing to the land forces 
not storming the American fort ; there were only 
1,400 men in it, under gen. Macomb, who inform- 
ed captain Pring, of the Linnet, that every thing 
was prepared to surrender on the advance of the 
British army. Report says, that gen. Robinson is 
under arrest— that generals Brisbane and Power 
had tendered their swords to sir G. Prevost— and, 
that col. Williams, of the 13ih, had declared he 
would never draw his sword again, while under the 
command of sir George. It is said Sir George is 
gone to Kingston." 



( 84 ) 

Montreal, Sept. 17. 
» Mv last letter to you was of date the 14th inst. 
when I had the mortification to inform you of our 
fleet on Lake Champlain being entirely defeated and 
faken by theenemyat Plattsburg. about 70 miles 
om thTs place, and' when we had an army of 1 4 o^ 
1 5 000 regular and brave troops who only wished to 
bf 'allowed to storm the enemy's fort, and which 
everXdv says would easily have been accom- 
Sd hid any other person had the command 
£ si^ G Prevost ; we have suffered more dis- 
^tce from the ^^^J^^^^^ ^Z^t 
rvro^rtatr-^^herrwrsix of our officers killed 

on board of our vessels, and 20 are made prisoners; 
on Doaru oi u > ^ ^^^ 

and besides we must ^^^^ tost near ^^ 

irrifme T^^t^^^^^ ^ out 500.000. 
KrTnow saystllat sir G Pr^^^^^^^^^^^ | 

Province! The army retreated most precipitately 

deserters on the retreat ^ef es a vast^to^m 
visions and mmunon^^^^^^^^^^ ea- 

too-fools— meaning, I <=o'^^'^^J' t|'' .„_ 5 

and his adjutant-general, major ^^ l>^y"f;;. ^j^^ i 

result of the late operations has M n ^hort ot e 
rSri:r^SXceo^SiVadron,.e^ 



( 85 ) 

are informed, stands thus; — British, one ship, 
mounting in all 32 guns ; one brig, in all 20 guns ; 
two sloops of 70 tons, each 10 guns — and ten guii 
boats. American, one ship, rated 28 guns, carry- 
ing SO; one brig, 24; one strong schooner, 18; 
three sloops, each 10 guns — and twenty-four gun 
boats. The crews, tonnage, and weight of metal, 
are estimated at one- fourth superior on the side of 
the Americans ; and we have no reason to doubt our 
information. We have always considered offensive 
warfare as the best mode of securing peace ; and 
recent humiliation has not changed our tone.^ We 
may be called to defend points which have hitherto 
not been thought of; and consequently the late re- 
treat may not have been ill advised : the fort at 
Piattsburg should, however, have been stormed. — ■ 
That part of the labour would have cost less blood 
and embarrassment than was sustained in the retreat ; 
a retreat that will tend to rouse the energies of the 
enemy.^ We might have taken 2000 prisoners, a 
fine train of artillery, and immense stores. 

We are not military men, but we call on "every 
experienced officer" to support or contradict us. If 
we are wrong, we shall take a pride in confessing 
our ignorance. The scientific brave generals, offi- 
cers, and soldiers of the duke of Wellington's army, 
and the others who have before fought in our cause 
in the Canadas, did every thing which depended on 
them to support the noble efforts of their brothers 
on the water. That distinguished officer, general 
Robinson, who has been twice wounded tiiis year 
on the other continent, with part of his gallant bri- 
gade, had braved all danger in an assault. Some of 
the pickets of the fort were torn away, and a few 
minutes more would have givtn up the fortificaiion 
with an immense train of artillerv, into our hands, 

H 



( 86 ) 

and every American must have fallen or been made 
prisoner. It was thought necessary to check the 
ardour of the troops, and we must now instantly 
redouble our energies to obtain command of the 
lake, or with humility await our future destiny, ^"^ 

Thus, then, according to our own accounts, the 
Americans had but 1,500 regulars and 6,000 mili- 
tia, wherewith to make face against 15,000 British 
troops, commanded by four major generals and sir 
George Prevost, a general of long experience and 
of great reputation. — On the Lake we say, that the 
Americans had a fourth more than we. Suppose 
they had ! I do not admit the fact ; but suppose 
they had. A fourth! how long is it since we 
thought 2i fourth too much? Every one knows, 
that sir Robert Calder was disgraced for not pur- 
suing double his force. We are become very nice 
calculators of force. We shall soon hear, 1 sup- 
pose, that we ought always to keep aloof, unless we 
can count the guns, and know that we have a supe- 
riority. — Fifteen thousand men, seven of them from 
the army of **the conqueror of France!" And 
these drew off from the presence of 7,500 Yankees, 
to whom they w^re about to give a good drubbing f 
Why, it will make such a noise in the world ! It 
will make such a buz ; it will astound " honest 
John Bull," who was, only the last market day, 
charging his glass and bragging about sending out 
a viceroy. — The whole fleet I What, all! Our 
little ones and all ! All at one fell swoop I It will 
make Johnny Bull scratch his noddle in search of 
brains. The chuckling of honest John at the burn- 
ing of Washington, the plundering of Alexandria, 
and bombarding of Stonington, will be changed into 
grutnb/i?ig, I am afraid. But come Johnny, you 
must not grumble. You were for the war. It is 



( 87 ) 

your own war. The ministers are not to blame. 
You insisted upon chastising and humbling the 
Americans. You would have Mr. Madison depos- 
ed. You said he had sided with Napoleon. You 
said what was false^ Johnny ; but that's no matter. 
You called upon the ministers to depose him. This 
I will always say, and can at any time prove against 
you. — The consequences of this victory of the 
Americans must be very important. Sir George 
Prevost is blamed, and, indeed, abused, while the 
officers of the fleet, the defeated m^ captured ^Qtt, 
are complimented to the skies. When will this 
folly cease ? When shall we cease to be so basely 
unjust ? What would have been said of sir George 
if he had had his army blown into the air, or cut to 
pieces ? If he and all his army had been captured, 
what would have been said of him and of that 
army ? Yet this has happened to the fleet, and the 
fleet are complimented I While he, who has saved 
a great part of his army, notwithstanding the defeat 
of the fleet, is censured and a^z/^^-J; is called a yoo/, 
and almost a coward! Sir George Prevost is nei- 
ther fool nor coward. He is a man of great merit, 
is of long standing in the service, has served with 
great success ; and he has shown great ability in 
being able, with so small a force as he has hitherto 
had, to preserve a country generally inhabited by a 
people by no means zealous in their own defence, 
or rather, that of their territory. Let any one look 
at the situation of. Lake Champlain- It extends in 
length 150 miles, perhaps, running above the state 
of Vermont, and entering our province of Lower 
Canada in line pointing towards Quebec. It was 
very desirable to drive the Americans from the 
command of this Lake, which may be called their 
high road to Montreal and Quebec. It is the great 



( 88 ) 

channel for their army, their provisions, their guns, 
to pass along ; and, complete the sole masters of 
this Lake, it is not easy to conceive how they are 
to be kept from Quebec without a very large army 
from England, If the Americans had been defeat- 
ed upon the Lake, or had been compelled to retire 
to the Vermont end ofit^ then to have driven back 
their army also, would have been an object of vast 
importance ; nor would great loss in the attack, on 
our part, have been an irretrievable loss, or been 
followed by any extremely great danger. But when 
our fleet was not only defeated but actually captur- 
ed, and gone off to double the force of the Ameri- 
cans, even the certain defeat of their army could 
have led to no beneficial result. We must still 
have abandoned Plattsburg ; the fleet of the enemy 
would have speedily brought another army to any 
point that they wished, and would have placed that 
army 50 or 60 miles nearer Quebec than our army 
would have been. But, if, by any chance, we had 
been defeated by land after the defeat on the water, 
the loss of all Canada would, and must have been 
the consequence, if the Americans had chosen to 
conquer it, which I dare say they would. There- 
fore, it appears to me, that sir George Prevost acted 
the only part which a sensible man, under such 
circumstances, could have, for one moment, thought 
of He risked every thing m the attack, and if he 
succeeded, he gained nothing worth having. The 
loss of half his army, which was the case of the 
storming of Fort Erie, would have exposed him, 
even in case of success to great peril. The Ameri- 
cans could have immediately poured an army (by 
means of their fleet) more numerous than his into 
Lower Canada ; they could have poured in, all the 
winter^ m.ilitia and volunteers, from the populous 



( 89 ) 

and brave republican state of Vermont, while our 
governor had, and could have, no hopes of receiv- 
ing reinforcements till the middle of next summer. 
For supposing us to have spare troops at Halifax, 
they could hardly sail thence before the middle of 
October, and before they might reach Quebec, the 
ice in the St. Lawrence might have scuttled or 
foundered their vessels. The St. Lawrence, our 
only channel to Canada from England or from Hal- 
ifiix, is full of mountains of ice till the month of 
June. I have seen a large mountain of ice off the 
mouth of that immense river on the 15th of June. 
I believe, that no vessels of any considerable size 
ever attempt the navigation of that river much be- 
fore June. In what a situation, then, w^ould our 
governor have been placed if he had met with any 
serious loss in the storming of the Fort at Platts- 
burg ? And yet he is censured and abused for re- 
treating, after the total capture of our co-operating 
fleet, while the officers of that fleet are praised to the 
skies. 

About three weeks ago, just after we heard of the 
burnings of Washington City, I met Sir George 
Prevost's waggon, between Portsmouth and Hayant. 
The carter was whistling along by the side of some 
nice fat horses. 1 could not help observing to my 
son how much happier this fellow was than his mas- 
ter, who had to govern Canadians and fight Ameri- 
cans. It is easy to talk about the " heroes of Tou- 
louse,'''^ forming part of his army. '* The heroes of 
Toulouse" are said to have remonstrated against the 
retreat. Tiiey ire said to have expressed a desire 
to storm the fort. Sir George Prevost would, I dare 
say, have been of the same mind, if he had had rea- 
son to suppose, that one half of the people within, 
were, as the people of Toulouse were, ready to join 

H 2 



( 90 ) 

}iim. But he well knew the contrary. He knew, 
that he had to get into the fort through a river of 
blood. He had just seen the fate of our fleet ; and 
he knew, as *' the heroes of Toulouse" might have 
kn-own, that the men in the fort were of the same 
stamp as those upon the water. We now find from 
a detailed statement in the American papers, com- 
ing from authority, and accompanied by an account 
of killed and wounded in the naval battle on the lake, 
that our fleet had 93 guns and 1,050 men, while that 
of America had but 86 guns and 820 men ; our fleet 
was all taken but the gun boats, carrying 16 guns 
amongst them all. And yet the naval people are 
praised, while Sir George Prevost is censured. 
Whence arises this injustice? Whence this secur- 
ity of the navy from all censure, and even from all 
criticism ? Do we feel that to censure any part of it 
is to discover to the world that it is not always in- 
fallible ? Do we suppose, that in discovering our 
fears of its inferiority, in point of quality, to that of 
America, we shall make the world perceive the la- 
mentable fact ? Are we fools enough to hope that the 
history of this battle can be hidden from France and 
the rest of Europe? Why, then, this injustice? 
Why not blame the naval part of the forces, if blame 
must fall somewhere ? I see no necessity for its fall- 
ing any where, for my part. We had 84 men killed 
and 110 wounded, which shews that there was some 
fighting. We had double the number killed and 
wounded that Jonathan had, which shews that 
Jonathan was the more able bodied and active of 
the two. A letter was, a little while ago, pubhshed 
as from one of our oflicers in the Chesapeake Bay, 
saying, that Jonathan must now look pretty sharp" 
ly about hbn. It appears from the result of this bat- 
lie, that Jonathan does look pretty sharply about 



( 91 ) 

him. Now, then, let us hear what effect this eveftt 
has had upon the Times newspaper, which only a 
few weeks ago, insisted on it, that the Americaii 
government must be displaced, that the Americans 
were cowards, that they cared nothing about their 
country, and that the states would soon divide, and 
come over, one at a time, to the parent country. 
Now let us hear what this torch-bearer of the war, 
this trumpet of fire and sword, provoker to every act 
of violence and cruelty. Let us hear what he now 
has to say ; he, who has, for three years past, been 
urging the government on to this disastrous contest. 
** Halifax papers to the 6th instant, New- York to 
" the 22d ult. and Boston to the 25th, have been re- 
" ceived. There is no dissembling that the popu- 
" lar outcry in Canada against sir George PrevOst's 
" conduct, on occasion of the late operations against 
" Piattsburg, is very general and very loud. We 
" cannot pretend to determine on the talents of this 
*' officer, or on the wisdom of his plans ; but we 
" recur to the suggestions which we made at a very 
"early period of the campaign, and regret exceed- 
** iiigly that one of our most experienced generals 
"from Spain was not sent at once, flushed with 
" victory from the fields of Toulouse, to the heart 
" of the United States. Was it beneath the dignity 
" of lord Hill or even of the duke of Wellington ? 
"Fatal prejudice ! To despise^ to irritate, and, 
" after all, not to subdue our adversaries, is the worst 
" and weakest of all policy. Now we have reduc- 
" ed ourselves to this dilemma of being obliged to 
" carry our point by main force, or to retire from 
" the contest ten times worse than we began it, Avith 
" the mere postponement of an abstract question, 
" which has no reference to our present state of 
*' peace, with a fund of the bitterest animosity laid 



( 92 ) 

" Up against us in future, with our fiag disgraced 
*' on the ocean and on the lakes, and with the laurels 
** withered at Plattsburg, which were so hardly but 
*' so gloriously earned in Portugal, and Spain, and 
** France. — The spirit of the British nation cannot 
** stoop to the latter alternative ; and therefore, at 
^^ whatever risk, or whatever expense, we must 
^^ embrace the former. The invaluable year 1814, 
" when the treachery of America was fresh in the 
** minds of the European powers, is past. — Already 
** do they begin to relax in their deep and merited 
** contempt of the servile hypocrite Madison. — Al- 
'* ready do they turn a compassionating look on the 
*'bmoking rafters of the would-be capital. Pre- 
** sently, perhaps, the Russian cabinet may forget 
"that the Empress Catharine, to her dying day, 
" treated the Americans as rebels to their legal sov- 
** ercign ; or the Spanish court, while it is endeav- 
" ouring to rivet its yoke on Buenos Ayres, may 
"join with the philosophers of Virginia, in con- 
" tending for the hberty of the seas. Such, and 
" still greater political inconsistencies we have be- 
" fore now witnessed. Therefore let time be taken 
** by the forelock ; let not another campaign be wast- 
" ed in diversions and demonstrations ; let not anoth- 
^'' er autumnal sun go down in disgrace to the 
'• BRITISH ARMS. Conmiodorc Macdonough's 
" laconic note savours a little of affectation : but we 
" are sorry he has so favourable an opportunity for 
" displaying the brevity of his style to advantc«ge. — 
*'Gcn. Macomb's orders, however, are sufficiently 
" lengthy ; and, untbrtunately, he also has some 
" unpleasant information to give us. He states that 
" .4,000 British veterans have been foiled by 1,500 
" American regulars and some few mihtia, the 
" whole not exceeding 2,500 men. If he is correct 



( 93 ) 

^* in these estimates, it is surely high time that we 
" should either give up teaching the Americans war^ 
•*or send them some better instructors." The 
former is the best, be assured ! Why should com- 
modore Macdonough be charged with affectation, 
because he writes a short letter ? He has no sons 
or cousins, or patron's sons or cousins, or bastards, 
to recommend for the receipts of presents or pen- 
sions. But I have, at present, no room for further 
comment on this article. I will resume the subject 
in my next. 



FROM COBBETTS WEEKLY REGISTER, OF OCTOBER 29, 1814/ 

Retaliation, — A great deal has lately been said in 
the French, in the American, and in our own news- 
papers, about the destructive mode of warfare now 
waging in Canada, and in the United States, The 
two former have employed the most violent invec- 
tives against our government, on account of the 
burning of Washington, and other places, while we 
have set up, as a justification of these rigorous mea- 
sures, the plea of retaliation — tlmt is to say, have 
alleged that the burning and ransacking of defence- 
less towns, and the carrying away of private pro- 
perty from our provinces in Canada, began with the 
Americans ; and that what our troops have since 
done, what houses they have set fire to, what pro- 
perty they have taken away, and what numbers of 
innocent people they have ruined, instead of being 
either wanton, barbarous, or unjust, was a fair re- 
taliation for the injuries they have done us, and per- 



( 94 ) 

fectly consistent with the established laws of nations. 
If the practice of shedding human blood in battle is 
at all justifiable, I do not see why one nation has a 
right more than another, of deviating from the com- 
mon and prescribed rules of carrying on this work 
of destruction. I cannot admit, because one peo- 
ple, who call themselves civilized, should, in order 
to get the better of their neighbours, take it into 
their head to copy the practises of savages and bar- 
bariansy that the others have not an equal right to 
adopt the same practices. The one having, in a 
moment of frenzy, employed an instrument to cut 
his neighbour's throat, different from that which, in 
cold blood, he had agreed to use in the performance 
of this humane act, it seems to be only fair play that 
his opponent should satiate his thirst for human gore 
in a way, at least, as horrible and savage as his 
neighbour. Were the party who had been provoked 
to seek his revenge in a still more terrible manner, 
perhaps something might even then be offered in his 
vindication. At all events, if the Americans were 
really guilty, in the first instance^ of the wanton and 
dreadful outrages of which we accuse them ; if they 
set the example of devastation and barbarity, of 
which we so loudly complain, and under which we 
shelter ourselves for the commission of similar out- 
rages, I am quit^ satisfied that they have suffered 
nothing more tnan they deserved, and that the 
French people, in place of assimulating us to Attila 
and his Huns, or Robespierre and his bravadoes, 
ought, in justice, to draw the comparison between 
these inhuman monsters and the Americans them- 
selves. 

But there is a circumstance whi h, it is necessary 
should be attended to in determiiiing this import- 
ant question, namely, whethtT th.^ acts and deeds 
of the Americans, which serve as a plea iox the 



( 95 ) 

dreadful revenge we have taken, were unauthorised, 
or afterwards sanctioned, by the American govern- 
fiient. If it appeared that these cruelties were com- 
mitted, in consequence of an order from the secre- 
tary of war, or any other person holding a responsi- 
ble situation in the government, then there would be 
no room for doubt ; the question would be decid- 
ed agai7ist the Americans, and Great Britain stand 
acquitted in the eyes of the universe. If, however, 
it should turn out, that neither Mr. Madison, nor 
any individual connected with his government, di- 
rectly or indirectly, issued such an order, candour 
will compel us to acknowledge, that we have been 
rather rash in the severe censures we have pronounc- 
ed upon the American government. — But if, upon 
further enquiry, we find, that every thing has been 
done by that government which prudence could 
dictate, or which we ourselves could devise, to soften 
the rigours of the war ; If it should appear, that the 
American president, anticipating the dreadful evils 
consequent on a state of hostility, adopted precau- 
tionary measures, in order to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the invaders as well as the invaded ; if we 
should discover, that wlure any thing contrary to 
the usages of war, any of those violences insepara- 
ble from a state of warfare, occurred, the individu- 
als engaged in these, or who may have exercised any 
unnecessary severity, were brought to trial, or pun- 
ished for the impropriety of their conduct. If, I 
say, such should appear to have been the way in 
which the American government have acted in sach 
cases, it will be impossible to condemn Mr. Madi- 
son upon just grounds, or to clear us of those charges 
of cruelty, barbarity, and wanton precipitancy, which 
our neighbours have so lavishly brought against us. 
The Courier, and all our hireling tribe of journals, 



( 96 ) 

following its example, have stated, that ** from the 
*' first invasion of Upper Canada by the American 
" forces under brigadier general Hull, they mani- 
** fested a disposition of marking out, as objects of^ 
" peculiar resentment, all loyal subjects of his ma- 
** jesty, and dooming their property to plunder and 
*' conflagration." That the Americans invaded Up- 
per Canada after war had broken out between the 
two countries, is a fact we cannot doubt ; but that 
they should behave in the manner here pointed out ; 
that they should shew peculiar resentment towards 
some of the inhabitants merely because they were 
loyal subjects, and doom their property to destruc- 
tion, for no other reason than that they were attach- 
ed to their lawful sovereign, is what no reasonable 
person will believe, who knows any of the respect 
the American ministers have always shewn to the 
goverjiment of other states, and the extraordinary 
devotion of the people to their own political insti- 
tutions. The charge indeed has been held so ab- 
surd by the Americans, that they have never deign- 
ed to notice it, although they have uniformly met 
all general and undefined accusations with a digni- 
fied denial, and an explicit call upon their accusers 
to embody their charges in some tangible shape. 

Finding that this manly way of silencing calumny 
had its proper eifect, our corrupt press then pretend- 
ed to discover, in certain acts of the American army 
a sufiicient ground not only on which to rest their 
former accusations, but to warrant the adoption of 
these destructive measures that have lately attended 
our naval and military operations. It was said, that 
the proceedings of the Americans at the village of 
Newark, in Upper Canada, were m; rked with acts 
of the greatest atrocity, such as burning and de- 
stroying the farm-houses, and other buildings, of the 



( 97 ) 

peaceable inhabitants. ** It will hardly be credit- 
ed," said the servile writer of the Courier, ** that, 
" in the inclemency of a Canadian winter, the troops 
** of a nation calling itself civilized and christian, 
** had wantonly, and without the shadow of a pre^ 
" text, forced 500 helpless women and children, to 
" quit their dwellings, and to be the mournful spec- 
*:* tators of the conflagration and total destruction of 
" all that belonged to them." When this writer 
affected, in this hyprocritical manner, to lament the 
success he has so pathetically described, he took 
special care not to inform his readers, that the vil- 
lage of Newark was situated so close to Fort George, 
that it was scarcely possible to carry on military 
operations at that place, either of a defensive or 
offensive nature, without destroying many of the 
surrounding buildings. iVccordingly, when it was 
said, that the American officer commanding at Fort 
George had exceeded the bounds of propriety, he 
justified himself on the ground, that the measures 
he had taken were essentially necessary to the mili- 
tary plans he had adopted. It is plain, from an in- 
quiry having been ordered by the American govern- 
ment into this officer's conduct, that it gave no au- 
thority to act rigorously towards the inhabitants of 
our states. But what establishes this beyond all 
controversy is, that on this very occasion, the Ame- 
rican minister openly and distinctly disavowed all 
intentions of carrying on war contrary to the estab- 
lished practice of civilized nations. Supposing, 
therefore, what does net even appear to be the case, 
that the American officer had, in this instance, been 
guilty of some violence, or had even done all the 
mischief of which he is accused, this would not 
afford a ground on which to blame the government, 
when it cannot be shewn that it sanctioned his acts 

I 



( 98 ) 

either by previous orders or a subsequent approval. 
Aware of the conclusive nature of this fact, the 
Courier now attempts to shelter itself under the fal- 
lacious pretence, that the destruction of the houses 
at Newark " could in no degree assist the American 
operations," and that, when Mr. Monroe made his 
statement, " he knew it to be totally false. ''^ 

I leave it to the reader to judge, whether the edi- 
tor of the Courier, or the American secretary of 
state is entitled to the greatest credit, or which of I 
them is the most likely to be possessed of correct 
information on the subject. Could I suppose that | 
the preference would be given to the former, I ! 
would still maintain that the bare knowledge of these I 
outrages having been committed, would prove no- j 
thing. It must be distinctly shewn that they were 
authorized by the government, before they can be 
held as warranting the steps we have taken. As 
this is not even pretended by the Courier, it must 
continue an established fact, that the American go- i 
vernment was not the first aggressor, and conse- 
quently, that we cannot plead their example in jus- \ 
tification of our conduct. It has been said, that the \ 
burning of Long Point completely implicates the ^ 
American government. But it is only necessary, ; 
as in the last instance, to produce the evidence of \ 
their having sanctioned the deed, to adm^t the con- . 
elusion drawn from it. The American government ■ 
has repeatedly declared, that this act was totally un- i 
authorized; and to shew their entire disapprobation ^ 
of it, they delivered up the officer, under whose or- \ 
ders it was performed, to be tried by the laws of his \ 
country. " But (asks the Courier) what was the \ 
result? This is studiously concealed,^'* — Supposing 
the officer acquitted of the charge, what would the j 
Courier say to this ? Would he have the impudence \ 



( 99 ) 

to assert, that the government ought to be held cul- 
pable, and the people visited with the most dread- 
ful of all calamities, because the tribunals establish- 
ed by law had not considered the evidence suffici- 
ent to convict the accused. Of what consequence 
is it to our government, or how far is it held impli- 
cated in the issue of a court martial, whether the 
party tried be found innocent or guilty ? Have not 
ministers done their duty, when they deliver up the 
accused to be tried by his proper judges ? Who 
ever thinks of connecting them, after this step, with 
the judgment that may be pronounced ? Would the 
Courier writer wish us to believe that ministers do 
influence the decisions of the judges ? Does he mean 
to insinuate, that juries are not beyond the influence 
of corruption ? If he does not : if, as he always pre- 
tends, he entertains a high opinion of the integrity 
of our judges, and a reverence for the trial by jury; 
if he considers it a direct violation of the constitu- 
tion to interfere with their verdicts; upon what prin- 
ciple is it that the American government should be 
blamed, and the people punished for shewing the 
same respect for the decisions of their judges, and 
the same deference for the verdicts of their juries? 
How can we censure or punish the Americans upon 
these grounds, without censuring and punishing the 
government and the people of this country also ? 
Let the Courier, or his admirers, answer these ques- 
tions, if they can. 

Another ground of retaliation, urged by corrup- 
tion against the American government, was the 
burning of St. David's. This, it appears, was done 
by a straggling party of soldiers, who, finding them- 
selves freed from all restraint, conceived they had 
a right to plunder and destroy every thing that came 
in their way belonging to the enemy. Have we not 



{ 100 ) 

heard of thousands of such parties in the recent war 
on the continent ? And has not every newspaper in 
Europe dwelt with indignation on 'the atrocities 
committed by loose bands of soldiers belonging to 
all the armies of the belligerents? But who ever pre- - 
tended that any of the governments, or any of the ' 
nations to which these insolated parties of marauders 
belonged, should be so far held responsible for their 
acts, as to be placed beyond the protection of the 
law of nations, and to be made to suffer for crimes 
which they could neither foresee nor prevent ? It 
was enough that the guilty were made to suffer. In 
ordering this, the nation to whom they belonged did 
all that was incumbent on them to do, and all that 
could reasonably be required by the injured parties. 
The American government acted precisely in the 
same way. The officer who had the charge of the 
party that burned St. David's was dismissed from 
the service *' without a trial, for not preventing it." 
I think this was an arbitrary stretch of power. No 
man ought to be punished without a trial, great 
and however palpable his crime. To admit a con- 
trary practice is opening a door that may lead to 
great abuses, and 1 am sorry to find the fact admit- 
ted by an American secretary of state. But aggra- 
vated as this officer's case was by this breach of law 
and justice, the Courier writer would have it be- 
lieved, that it was not half severe enough. ("Was that 
an adequate punishment," he asks, " for such an 
unprovoked enormity ?") Thanks to the enlighten- 
ed minds of those who framed the American code 
of laws, diat it was considered an adequate punish- 
ment. To judge from the sanguinary disposition 
of this corruptionist, it appe. ±at nothing would 
Iiave satisfied him short of burning the wretch alive; 
and because some such punishment as this was not 



( 101 ) 

inflicted, he now pretends that Madison's govern- 
ment ought to be implicated in the affair of bt. 
David's and that a circumstance so manifestly un- 
controllable, and so clearly unauthorized by any pro- 
per authority, is sufficient to countenance the plea 
we have set up in justification of the dreadful suf- 
fering we have inflicted on the American people ! 
If we were to form our opinions of the Americans, 
upon what this prostituted writer tells us, we could 
not fail to consider them the most barbarous, the 
most immoral, and the most uncultivated race of 
men existing on the face of the earth : yet with all 
their ignoranc^^ and all their savage propensities, 
we do not perceive that their rulers have been so 
stupidly precipitate as either to proclaim the inhabi- 
tants of countries they invaded beyond the protection 
of the law, or to treat them as if they had been their 
own subjects, in open rebellion against the state. 
The cases already alluded to evidently do not war- 
rant the conclusions drawn by the Courier, unfav- 
ourable to the humanity of the Americans; and if we 
are disposed to give a candid hearing to what they 
^ themselves have published in their own defence, 
we shall soon be convinced, that they are neither 
barbarous nor inhuman ; that they are as well ac- 
quainted with the science of politics, and entertain 
as great a respect for the established laws of na- 
tions, and the rights of particular states, as the most 
civilized and christian people in Europe. It ap- 
pears, indeed that their superior acquirements, com- 
bined with an ardent attachment to liberty, is the 
cause of great hatred and rancour constantly display- 
ed, in our newspapers, against all their institutions. 
We envy the Ar^^ncans because they excel us, 
and from* envy prv. ceds enmity. — Nor do the re- 
cent-triumphs which they have obtained over our 

12 



{ 102 ) 

fleets and armies, and the imposing attitude they 
have in consequence assumed, appear in every 
degree to lessen the deep rooted malice entertained 
against them by a great majority in this country. 
Disaster seems to have no other effect than to con- 
firm popular prejudices : the public have no wish 
to be undeceived, and the man that dares attempt 
to tell them the truth is sure to be treated with con- 
tempt, and to be looked upon as a suspected per- 
son, who, like the nation whose rights he defends 
ought to be punished for his laudable efforts. With 
such dispositions, it is no way surprising that the 
conductors of our vile press find admirers. They 
flatter their passions, they feed their appetite for 
lies th( y nourish their hatred, and they rekindle 
their fury, whenever circumstances occur to recon- 
cile them to the former objects of their hate. From 
this dreadful but no less fliithful picture of the pre* 
sent state of society, one would be almost compel- 
led to conclude, that man was naturally a savage 
aiumab It is not, however, from the corruption of 
his nature that these evils spring ; they are occa 
sioned by corrupt institutions, by perverted systems 
ct education, by inexorable laws that interested 
cheats have every where promulgated, and that can 
never be overcome until mankind return to reason 
the only sure guide to virtue, to peace, and to hap- 

FROM COEEETT'S WEEKLY REGISTER, OF NOV. 26, 1814. 

AMERICAN WAR. 

^'^gociations at Ghent ^Measures of the Jmeri^ 
.an Congress-^Battk near Fort Ene^LakeZ^^^^ 



( 103 ) 

rio — Despatches about the Lake Champlain Battles 
--—British attack on Fort Mobile, — The neirocia- 
tioiis at Ghent, though kept a secret from Johnny 
Bull, have reached him, as most other disclosures 
do, through the tell tale press of America. Oh ! 
that republic and her Press ! How many things the 
world knows through them ! Is there no way of 
reducing them to silence ? Take it in hand, good 
people, and see if there be no means of accomplish- 
ing it. These negociations show, that Jonathan, 
poor despised Jonathan, is not much less smart 
in the cabinet than he is in the field. Certainly no- 
thing was ever better managed than this negociation, 
on the part of Jonathan. He pricked our brains, 
and then would do nothing, until he heard what the 
people of America should say. The ground of 
Messrs. Bayard, Gallatin, &c. was very reasonable; 
for how could they be expected to have instructions, 
relating to matters never before matters of dispute F 
1 The substance of the disclosure is this : we asked 
^ as a preliminary/ J that the Republicans should give 
up part of their territory, including those very lakes, 
and their own borders of those Lakes whereon they 
have defeated us, and which are their only secure 
barrier against us and our Indian allies. The Pre- 
sident, of course, lost no time in laying these papers 
before the Congress, who are said to have heard 
them with unanimous indignation ; and the Times 
newspaper tells us, that *' these papers have been 
made tlie means of uniting against us the whole 
American people?'' Thou great ass, they were uni- 
ted against us before. There were only a handful 
of *' Serene Highnesses^"* and ** Cossacks^'' in Mas- 
sachusetts, the acquaintance of Mr. Henry, who 
were not united against us. This, I suppose, is the 
shift that you resort to in order to cover your dis- 



( 104 ) 

grace, in having to announce that Mr. Madison is 
" yet'*^ president, and that he is not tvtnimpeachedy 
There is one passage in the last despatch of Mr. 
Monroe, worthy of great attention. He tells the 
Plenipotentiaries, that, " there is much reason to 
presume, that Great Britain has now OTHER OB- 
JECTS than those, for which she has hitherto pro- 
fessed to contend." Probably he built this pre- 
sumption on the language of our public prints, or 
on the report of a speech in Parliament, attributed 
by those newspapers to sir Joseph Yorke, one of 
the Lords of the Admiralty, in which report the re- 
porters made sir Joseph say, that we had Mr. Madi- 
son to DEPOSE before we could lay down our 
arms. This report was published some time in 
May or June ; and in August Mr. Monroe's des- 
patch was written. However, be the ground of 
presumpti'^n what it would, Mr. Madison does not 
seem to have changed his tone on account of it ; 
and there can be no doubt that the people must 
have been greatly inflamed by such an impudent 
declaration. This shews what mischief newspa- 
pers can do. The war is, in great part the war of 
the Times and the Courier, Let them, therefore, 
weep over the fate of our fleets and armies in Cana- 
da, and at Mobile. The measures of the American 
Congress seem to be of a very bold character, and 
well calculated for a war of long continuation. The 
President has not been afraid to lay bare all the 
w^ants of the government, and to appeal to the sense 
and patriotism of the people. From every thing 
that 1 can discover, the noblesse of Massachusetts 
will not be able to prevent, or even impede, any of J 
these measures, Johnny Bull is, in last Satur- \ 
day's Gazette, treated to an account of the late bat- \ 
tie near Fort Erie, from which Jonathan sallied J 



( 105 ) 

out upon Gen. Drummond's army. According 
to this account, our loss was as follow : 



KILLED. 




Captains 


1 


Lieutenants 


2 


Serjeants 


7 


Rank and File 


105 




llj 


WOUNDED. 




Lieut. Colonels 


3 


Captains 


3 


Lieutenants 


10 


Ensigns 


1 


Sergeants 


13 


Drummers 


1 


Rank and File 


147 




178 


MISSING. 




Majors 


.2 


Captains 


4 


Lieutenants 


3 


Ensigns 


2 


Adjutants 


1 


Surgeons 


1 


Sergeants 


21 


Drummers 


2 


Rank and File 


280 
316 



.609 



A most bloody battle ! The armies, on both sides, 
are handfuls of men. These are battles of a very 
different description from those of the Peninsula, as 
it was called.— General Drummond complains of 
the overwhelming force of the enemy. How came 
he to besiege him then ? It was a sally, observe on 
the part of the Americans ; and it is the first time I 
ever heard of a sallying party being stronger than 
the army besieging them. In the teeth of facts hke 



( 106 ) 

these the malignant ass of the Times newspaper has 
the impudence to say, with as much coohiess as if 
he had never heard of these things : " A peace be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States can pro- 
perly be made no were but in America. The con- 
ferences should be carried on at New- York or Phi- 
ladelphia, having previously fixed at those places 
the head quarters of a Pic ton or a Hill." If 
Mr, Madison had this writer in his pay, the latter 
could not serve the republican cause more effectu- 
ally than he is now doing. On Lake Ontario our 
newspapers now say, that we have a decided superi- 
ority of force. Very well. Let us bear that in 
mind. Let us have no nexv versio7is after a battle 
shall have taken place. The official accounts rela- 
tive to the affair at Plattsburg and Lake Champlain 
are the most curious, certainly, that ever was seen. 
Thev consist of a mere account of the number of 
killed, wounded and missing, up to the time that 
our army quitted, or was about to quit Plattsburg, 
that is to say, [mind the dates /] up to the FOUR- 
TEENTH OF SEPTEMBER. Not a word 
have we about the RETREAT from Plattsburg, 
nor about the battle on Lake Champlain, though 
we have an account from sir George Prevost, dated 
on the FOURTH OF OCTOBER.. Mark that 
well. The despatch is said to have been dated on 
the 11th, at Plattsburg, but it contains the account 
of the losses to the I4th ! Let us hear the apology of 
the Times newspaper : — *' The return from the 6th 
to the 14th of September being inclosed in the des- 
patch bearing date the 11th, is ^a^f/z/ accounted for, 
from the circumstance of that despatch not having 
been made up for some time after. Although des- 
patches having arrived of a later date from sir G. 
Prevost none have been received containing anu 



( 1Q7 ) 

account of his retreat. Private letters, however, 
contradict the American statements of precipitation 
and embarrassment in sir George's movements on 
that occasion. The despatch of the 11th before 
mentioned, rejers to the action on the lake, but it is 
not thought proper to pubUsh this until an official 
account of the action reaches the admiralty. Very 
well, now. Let us grant that it would not be pro- 
per to publish sir George's account of the action on 
the Lake, though it was such a lumping concern 
as to require but little nautical skill to describe it : 
yet here is no reason at all given for not publishing 
sir George's account o/* his own retreat, other than 
its not having been received, which is most wonder- 
ful, seeing that it is the invariable practice to enclose 
duplicates and triplicates of every preceding des- 
patch, when forces are at such a distance. How 
came sir George, in his despatch of the 4th of Oc- 
tober, not to send a duplicate of the account of his 
retreat, if he had sent that account before ? And, 
if he had not sent it before, how came he not to send 
it along with his despatch of the 4th of October ? 
The solving of these questions will be very good 
amusement for the winter evenings of Johnny Bull, 
who was so anxious " to give the Yankees a good 
drubbing''^ and who thinks nothing at all of the pro- 
perty tax when compared with so desirable an ob- 
ject. Reader, pray let me bring you back to the 
affair of Plattsburg. It is situated on the side of 
lake Champlain, about 25 miles within the United 
States. There is a fortress near it, in which Jona- 
than had 1500 regulars and 5 or 6,000 militia. 
Against this fort and force, sir George Prevost, 
with 14 or 15,000 men marched early in Septem- 
ber, the fort being to be attacked by water by our 
fleet, at the same time that our army attacked it by 



( 108 ) 

land. — The attack was made but the American fleet 
came up, attacked ours, beat and captured the 
whole of the ships. Sir George Prevost, seeing 
the fate of the fleet, retreated speedily into Canada, 
was followed, as the Americans say, by their army, 
who harassed it, took some cannon, a great quantity 
of stores, and many prisoners, and received from 
the British army, a great number of deserters^ who 
quitted sir George Prevost, and went over to them. 
This is the most serious part of the subject; and 
therefore, as the Montreal newspapers had stated 
that we lost 150 men by desertion, as the Ameri- 
cans made them amount to a great many hundreds ; 
and as Mr. Whitbread in the debate in Parliament 
a few days ago said he had heard that they amounted 
to 2000, and that too, of TVellingtoiuans, the people 
were very anxious to see sir George Prevosfs ac- 
count of his retreat* The Ministers said, that Sirs 
George Prevost had said NOTHING about DE- 
SERTION ; and that of course, he would have 
mentioned it, if it had been true. But the Times 
newspaper now tells us, that Sir George has sent no 
account of his retreat; or, at least, that none has been 
received. According to the Ministers, Sir George's 
account has been received, and mention is made in 
it of desertion. According to the Times, Sir 
George's account has not been received. We must 
believe the Ministers of course, and must set the 
Times down for a promulgator of wilful falsehoods. 
But, then, there is a rub left ; if the account of the 
retreat is come, WHY NOT PUBLISH IT? 
This is another riddle Johnny Bull, for your winter 
evenings' amusement. The attack of our forces on 
Mobile, furnishes a new feature to the war. Wc 
have before seen the two parties engaged, frigate to 
frigate, brig to brig, sloop to sloop, and in two in- 



( 109 

stances, fleet to fleet. We have seen them, on land, 
alternately besieged and besieging. We now see 
the Americans in a fort, containing only 108 men, 
attacked by a combined naval and military arma- 
ment, as to the result of which, after describing the 
scene of action, we must for the present take their 
own official account. Point Mobile is situated on 
the main land on the border of the Gulph of Mexi- 
co, not far from the mouth of the great river Mis- 
sissippi. On this point is a fort, called Fort Bow- 
yer, belonging to the Republican enemy, to the at- 
tack of which our squadrons proceeded in Septem- 
ber last, [Here follow the American official ac- 

counts.] 

I extract these articles from the Times newspa- 
per; and yet in the face of these facts, in defi- 
ance of these red hot balls, the consummate ass 
would make no peace, except at New- York or Phu 
ladelphia, thev being first the head quarters of a 
Picton or a Hill! This is as good a lift as the writer 
could have given to Mr. Madison, and as hard a 
blow as he could have given to the Noblesse of 
Massachusetts, on whom he and the rest of our war 
tribe had built, and do still build their hopes of ul- 
timate success. Let him look at the attitude of 
New-York and Philadelphia. I do not say that it 
is impossible to get at either of those cities with 
bomb shells or rockets ; but I am quite satisfied, 
that it would require a very large army to set foot 
in either of them, even for the purpose of burning 
and then quitting them in safety. I will now make 
• an observation or two with regard X.o public opinion 
as to the American war. People are disappointed. 
The continuance of the Property Tax pinches. 
But would they have the luxury of war without 
paying for it? No, no. Pay they must; or they 



( 110 ) 

must put up with what they have gotten and see- 
the Stars and Stripes waving in every sea. They 
would have xvar. War was their cry. They have 
it, and they must pay for it. 

TO THE COSSACK PRIESTHOOD of the Slate of Massachusetts. 

Botlerj, J\'ov. 29, 1814. 

Ge?Jtlemen — I perceive, that there were held, in 
your state, and at your instigation, and under your 
guidance and mimairy, solemn fasts and thanksgiv- 
ings on account of the entrance of the Cossacks in- 
to Paris, and of the fall of Napoleon. Hence, I 
perceive that you are called the Chaplains of the 
Cossacks ; and sometimes, the Cossack Priesthood, 
That you, who used to be regarded as some of the 
best men in your republic, and the purity of whose 
religious motives were never even doubted, should 
have exposed yourselves to the application of such 
titles, I extremely regret to hear. But it is not my 
business to give way to private feelings upon such 
an occasion. It is for me, as far as I am able, and as 
I dare, to make truth known to the world; and, as 
you, in this case, appear to me to have shewn a 
more decided hostility to truth, than any other set 
of men of whom 1 have heard, not excepting the 
editors of the London newspapers, it is natural for 
me to address myself to you upon the subject. 

The religion, of which you profess to be teach. 
^rs, is the Presbyterian. 1 believe there are three 
or four sorts of Presbyterian Christians. To which 
of these sorts you belong, or whether some of you 
are of one sort, and some of each of the others, I 
know not. Nor is it material ; it being well known, 
that, substantially, all these sorts are the same, and 
that the religion you professed, has existed, and has 



( 111 ) 

been the generally prevailing religion in the four eas- 
tern states of the republic, where there has been born 
and reared an industrious, sober, humane, brave and 
free people, distinguished above all others for their 
good understanding of the — \_In the number from 
which xve copy^ two or three hues are obhterated] — 
Whether they would have been as good, better, or 
worse, without the religion that you have taught ; 
whether, discarding, as is the manner of some men, 
all mysteries, and believing in nothing, the truth of 
which cannot be substantiated by undeniable f. cts, 
or by incontrovertible argument, they would have 
been as good, better, or worse, than they are, is a 
question, which 1 will not meddle with. But you 
will excuse me, if I observe, that while this can pos- 
sibly be made a question amongst rational men, you, 
who receive pay for your teaching of religion, ought 
to be very careful to excite no doubt in the minds of 
mankind as to the purity of your views, or the sin- 
cerity of your faith. 

Your recent conduct does, however, appear to 
have excited such doubts in the minds of your 
countrymen. In my mind it has done more. It 
has convinced me that your motives are any thmg 
rather than pure, and that your professions are a 
mere pretence ; a trick to enable you to live with- 
out labour upon the earnings of those who do labour, 
just as are the tricks of monks and friars, and of all 
other imposers on popular credulity, from the gold- 
en-palmed showman of the Lady of Loretto down to 
thelousy-cowled consecrators of half-penny strmgs 
of beads, and the itinerant protestant bawlers, whose 
harangues are wholly incomprehensible, until they 
come round with their hat to collect the means of 
recruiting the belly. All the zeal of impostors of 
every kind ; all their calumnies of others ; all their 



( 112 ) 

innumerable persecutions of those who have en- 
deavoured to withdraw the people from their de- 
grading influence, have had this great end in view : 
to extrac and secure to themselves the means of 
living xvelL without labour^ out of the earnings of 
those who do labour, I am very sorry to ascribe 
such a motive to you, whose forefathers fled to a 
wilderness rather than violate the dictates of their 
conscience ; but truth compels me to say, that 
you appear to have no claim to an exemption from 
the general charge. Yet, I am not so unjust as to 
suppose, much less to hold forth to the world, that 
all the priests of Massachusetts are of this descrip- 
tion ; but, as I find no account of any protest, on 
the part of any of the priests, against the odious and 
detestable celebrations and fasts before mentioned, 
I shall stand fully justified for not making any par- 
ticular exceptions. If any of the priests of Massa- 
chusetts feel sore under the appellation which I 
have given them, they ought to direct their resent- 
ment against those whose conduct has brought it 
upon them, and not against me, unless they are able 
to shew that I chargt- them unjustly. 

Had you, indeed, confined your thanksgivings to 
the release of certain countries of Europe from the 
arms of an ijivader^ a conqueror^ an oppressor^ an 
ambitious despot, who instead of giving liberty, add- 
ed to the civil sufferings of some of the nations,. 
\vhom he over-ran, having first extinguished Re- 
publican Government, and along with it political 
liberty, in France, where the people had put power 
into his hands to be used in the cause of freedom ; 
had you held solemn thanksgivings on account of 
the triumphs of the Cossacks, and their associates, 
in the cause of the civil and political independence 
of nations, you would not have excited indignation 



( 113 ) 

in the breast of any rational man ; for thoug;h some 
men would have differed with you in opinion upon 
that point ; though some men would have said as 
some men thought, that the conqueror could not 
long have held under his sway so extensive an em- 
pire as he was grasping ; that in a few years, the 
several countries of which it was composed, begin- 
ning with France, would in all human probability, 
throw off his yoke, and form themselves into inde- 
pendent states, freed from all his as well as all former 
shackles; and that thus he would in the end, be 
found to have been instrumental in establishing 
liberty, civil as well as religious, in every part of 
Europe, where it did not before exist ; though some 
men would have said this and would of course 
not have join«rd you in your thanksgivings for the 
victories of the Cossacks, no just and considerate 
man could have censured you so bng as you con- 
fined your thanksgivings to the aforementioned ob- 
jects/ But when,'in your prayers and sermons, you 
called the Cossacks and others engaged on the same 
side ' • the bulwark of your religion ; when with the 
Rev'eretid Mr. PARISH at your head, you called 
Napoleon Anti-Chnst, and bawled out songs of 
praise to the Cossacks and their associates for pull- 
ing him down ; and especially when you maliciously 
threw on your political opponents the charge of be- 
ins: the abettors ofAnti- Christ; then you excited the 
indignation of ail those who did not turn with dis- 
o-ust from your horrid ejaculations and harangues. 
*" If there was one trait above all others, by which 
your sermons and prayers, until of late years, were 
characterized, it was by your zealous, your violent, 
not to say foul-mouthed, attacks on ihe Komish 
Pontiff, faith and worship ; you had no scruple to 
represent the Pope as an AiitiXhrist and as the 



( 114 ) 

Scarlet Whore of Old Babylon, covered with abom- 
inations. How clearly did you prove that he was 
the beast of the Revelations ; that he had made the 
world drunk with the fornications ; that his seven 
heads were his seven hilis on which Rome is situ- 
ated ; his ten horns the ten principal catholic sov- 
ereigns of Europe ; and that his colour was scarlet^ 
because it was dyed in the blood of the Saints ? Was 
there a sermon, was there a prayer that issued from 
your lips, in which you did not call on the Lord for 
vengeance on this *' Man of Sin ^^"^ and in which you 
did not describe the Catholic Religion as idolatrous^ 
blasphemous^ diabolical and as evidently tending to 
the eternal damnation of millions and millions of 
precious souls ? 

Every one who shall read what I am now writing, 
must acknowledge that this description of your con« 
duct, in regard to the Romish church, is far short of 
the mark. What then have you now to say, in jus- 
tification of your recent conduct ? Where is your 
justification for your violent attacks on Napoleon 
and his family, to say nothing at present of your 
thanksgivings for the restoration of the ancient order 
of thing;s, or in your own language " the ancient and 
venerable institutions .^" Where is your justification 
for your attacks on Bonaparte ? Others, indeed, 
might consistently attack them. Such as thought 
that the church of Rome and her power were good 
things ; or such as regarded one religion as good as 
another, might consistently attack Bonaparte. But 
youy you who professed the opinions above describ- 
ed ; how \_Here also a few lines are obliterated'^ 
power commenced, existing in Europe a system of 
rehgion,or as you called it, irreligion, having at the 
head of it a Sovereign Pontiff with innumerable car- 
dinals, bishops, vicars, general abbots,priors,monks^ 



{ 115 ) 

iriars, secular priests, &c. he. under him. To this 
body you ascribed false doctrines, tricks, frauds and 
cruelties, without end. You charged them with the 
propagation of idolatry and blasphemy, with keep- 
ing the people in ignorance ; with nourishing su- 
perstition ; with blowing the flames of persecution ; 
with daily murdering in the most horrid manner, 
the martyrs to the true faith. The Sovereign Pontiff 
himself, the corner stone of the whole body, you 
constantly called Anti- Christ, the Scarlet TVhore^ 
the beast, and the Man of Sin, and you prayed most 
vehemently for his overthrow, insisting that the 
system of which he was the foundation manifestly 
tended to the eternal damnation of the souls of the 
far greater part of the people of Europe. 

Well, Napoleon arose. He hurled down the Pope, 
he overthrew the Anti-Christ, the Scarlet Whore, 
the Beast, the Man of Sin ; and with him all the 
long WJ. of persecutors of the Saints. Napoleon and 
his associates did, in three years, what your prayers 
and preachings had not been able to effect in three 
centuries. The Pope was stripped of all temporal 
power ; the cardinals and bishops were reduced to 
mere cyphers ; the monks were driven from their 
dens of laziness and debauchery ; the tricks and 
frauds were exposed ; the adored images were turn- 
ed into fire wood ; the holy relics were laughed at ; 
the light of truth was suffered freely to beam upon 
the minds of the people ; rehgious persecution was 
put an end to; and all men were not oniy permit- 
ted but also encouraged, openly to profess, pursue 
and enjoy whatever species of religious faith and 
worship they chose. — Every man became eligible 
to offices, trusts and honours ; and throughout the 
domains of Italy and France, where a Presbyterian 
would have been tied to a stake and roasted rather 



( 116 ) 

Uian be suffered to fill an office of trust, or to preach 
to a congregation, religious liberty, was under Na- 
poleon, made as perfect as in Pennsylvania, and 
more perfect than in your State of Massachusetts. 

These are facts, which none of you, not even Mr. 
Parish, will dare openly to deny. They are as no- 
torious as they will be and ought to be memorable. 

Ought you not, therefore, to have rejoiced at this 
wonderful change in favour of religious liberty? 
How could you see 50 millions of souls set free 
without feeling it impossible to suppres an expres- 
sion of your pleasure ? How could you see the fall 
of Anti- Christ without putting up thanksgiving to 
that God, whom you had so long been worrying 
with your importunities for die accomplishment of 
that object *? Was not this an event calculated to 
call forth your gratitude to heaven ? Ought it not 
to have been expected from you, that you should 
speak very cautiously in disapprobation of Napoleon 
and the French republicans, who had effected what 
you had so long been praying for apparently in vain ? 
Ought you not, if you had spoken at all of the sins 
of his ambition : if vou had blamed him as an in- 
vader, a conqueror, a destroyer of republican free- 
dom, to have touched him with a tender hand, con- 
sidering the immense benefits which rehgious li- 
berty had received in consequence of his invasions 
and conquests ? Ought he not to have found in you 
above all men living, if not impartial judges, at 
least, mild and moderate censors '^ 

If this was what might naturally and justly have 
been expected from you, what must have been the 
surprise and indignation • i those vho saw you 
amongst the very fiercest of Napoleon's foes ; 
amongst the foulest of his calumniators ; amongst 
the first and loudest of those who rejoiced at his 



( 117 ) 

fall ; who saw you holding solemn fasts and thanks- 
givings for his overthrow ; who heard you hail with 
holy rapture the return of *' the ancient order of 
things," and the re-establishment of the '* venerable 
institutions^'' of Europe ; who heard you joinnig in 
the hosannas of the monks, styling the Cossacks 
and their associators " Bulwarks of 7?e'//^?072," "• De- 
liverers'*'^ and " Saviours ;^^ who heard you in the 
w^ords of Mr. Parish, shifting from the pope to Na- 
poleon himself the imputation of being Anti- Christ, 
and charging your political opponents with being 
the abbettors of that " Scarlet Whore," that ** Man 
of Sin !" — What must have been the surprise and 
indignation of those who were the witnesses of your 
conduct upon this memorable occasion ? How you 
may stand at this time, in the estimation of your 
flocks, it is impossible for me to know ; but if you 
still preserve your former weight and consequence, 
1 must say that you exhibit an instance of success, 
of which, in an enlightened country, no former set 
of imposters ever had to boast. 

IF/iat was that '* ancient order of things," the 
return of which you hailed with such rapture? 
PFhat were thost " venerable institutions," of which 
you thanked the Lord for the approaching re-estab- 
lishment ? The Bolt/ See of Rome was one, and 
the Inquisition was another. Thousands of subal- 
tern '' venerable institutions" naturally followed in 
the train of these ; such as the Virgin Mary's house 
at Loretto, the shrine of Saint Antony, the Holy 
Cross, the exhibition of St. Catharine's Wheel, the 
Holy Thorn that penetrated Christ's cheek, of the 
Breeches of St. Polomo, so efficacious with barren 
wives, especially by a lusty monk. Hundreds and 
thousands of thousands of these *' venerable'' things 
naturallv followed the overthrow of him who had 



( 118 ) 

overthrown them All the persecutions of the Pro- 
testantb ; all the frauds, insolence and cruelty of the 
Romish priests, must have been in your view. 
You are not ignorant men. On the contrary, you 
are some of the most cunning even of priests. You 
knew to a moral certainty that the pope, \vhom you 
had formerly led your flocks to believe was Anti- 
Christ, would be restored. You knew that, instead 
of a milder sway, he would naturally be more rigid 
than ever in the exercise of the power. All this 
you knew. You knew that the toleration of all 
Protestant sects, the encouragement of them, the 
free use of reason on religious subjects, and the free 
circulation of religious opinions, which were so 
complete under Napoleon, would be instantly de- 
stroyed in the far greater part of Europe. And yet 
you held a solemn thanksgiving to God that Napo- 
leon had been overthrown, and you had the impious 
hypocrisy to call his enemies " the bulwarks of re- 
ligion ;" you, aye, you, whose fathers fled to a ^vil- 
derness across the sea, rather than live where they 
were not permitted openly to renounce as damnable 
the remnants which the church of England had 
preserved of that very religion ; of which the ene- 
mies of Napoleon were the bulwark, and which 
you now thanked God for the prospect of seeing 
restored ! 

The holy father whom you had formerly called 
the '* Scarlet Whore," dyed in the blood of the 
saints. The '* beast, ''^ as you used to call him, 
whose ** mouth was full of blasphemies," remount- 
ed his chair even before " the most christian king" 
got upon his throne. One of his first acts was to 
restore the Jesuits, that ** ancient and tyenerahle in- 
stitution," which had become so odious on account 
of its wicked acts that it had been abolished by all 



( 119 ) 

the princes of Europe, and even by a former pope 
himself. The next remarkable step was, the re- 
establishment of the Inquisition in Spain, where 
it had been abolished by Napoleon on the day that 
he took possession of the government of that coun- 
try ; and, what is worthy of particular notice, 
though perfectly natural, '^'Ferdinand the beloved,'' 
in his ordinance, dated 23d July last, for the re- 
establishment of that horrid tribunal, makes use of 
almost your very language in reproaching Napoleon 
with its abolition, as you will see by the ordinance 
itself, annexed to this letter. 

You yourselves well know what that tribunal 
was ; but as some of the good people whom you 
have deceived, may not know the precise nature of 
that '^ venerable institution," which Napoleon abol- 
ished, and which has been restored in consequence 
of the success of your *' bulwark of religion, "^"^ 1 will 
here insert an account of it from the last edition of 
Encyclopedia Britannica^ referring your flocks to 
Mr, Dobson's greatly improved Philadelphia edi- 
tion, that they may verify the correctness of the 
extract, which they will find under the words 
*' Inquisition''^ and *' act of faith,'' as follows: 

*' INQUISITION.— in the church of Rome, a 
tribunal in several Roman Catholic countries, erect- 
ed by the popes for the examination and punish- 
ment of heretics. — This court was founded in the 
12th century by Father Dominic and his followers, 
who were sent by Pope Innocent III. with orders 
to excite the Catholic princes and people to extir- 
pate heretics, to search into their number and adul- 
tery, and to transmit a faithful account thereof to 
Rome. Hence they were called //7^z^w?7or5 ; and 
this gave birth to the formidable tribunal of the 
Inquisition, which was received in all Italy and the 



( 120 ) 

dominions of Spain, except the kingdom of Naples 
and the Low Countries. This diabolical tribunal 
takes cognizance of Heresy, Judaism, Mahometan- 
ism, Sodomy and Polygamy ; and the people stand 
so much in fear of it that parents deliver their chil- 
dren, husbands their wives, and masters their ser- 
vants, to its officers, without daring in the least to 
murmur. The prisoners are kept for a long time, 
till they themselves turn their own accusers, and 
declare the cause of their imprisonment ; for they 
are neither told their crime nor confronted with 
witnesses. As soon as they are imprisoned, their 
friends go into mourning, and speak of them as 
dead, not daring to solicit their pardon, lest they 
should be brought in as accomplices. When there 
is no shadow of proof against the pretended crimi- 
nal he is discharged, after suffering the most cruel 
tortures, a tedious and dreadful imprisonment, and 
the loss of the greatest part of his effects. — The 
sentence against prisoners is pronounced publicly 
and with the greatest solemnity. In Portugal they 
erect a theatre capable of holding 3000 persons, in 
which they place a rich altar, and raise seats on 
each side in the form of an amphitheatre. There 
the prisoners are placed ; and over against them is 
a high chair, whither they are called one by one to 
hear their doom from one of the inquisitors.-These 
unhappy people know what they are to suffer by 
the clothes they wear that day. — Those who ap- 
pear in their own clothes are discharged upon pay- 
ment of a fine ; those who have a santo benito, or 
straight yellow coat without sleeves, charged St. 
Andrew's cross, have their lives, but forfeit all their 
effects ; those who have the resemblance of flames 
made of red serge sewed upon their sa?ito benito^ 
without any cross, are pardoned, but threatened to 



, ( 121 ) 

be burned if ever they relapse ; but those who be- 
sides these flames have on their santo bemto their 
own picture, surrounded with figures of devils, arc 
condemned to cj^pire in the flames. The inquisi- 
tors, who are ecclesiastics, do not pronounce the 
sentence of death, but form and read an act, in 
which they say, that the criminal being convicted 
of such a crime by his own confession, is, with 
much reluctance, delivered to the secular pow- 
er, to be punished according to his demerits ; and 
this writing they give to the seven judges who at- 
tend at the right side of the altar, who immediately 
pass sentence." 

" ACT OF FAITH— In the Romish Church 
is a solemn day held by the inquisition for the pun- 
ishment of heretics and the absolution of the inno- 
cent accused. They usually contrive the Auto to 
fall on some great festival, that the execution may 
pass with more awe and regard ; at least it is always 
on a Sunday. The Auto da Fe^ or Act of Faitfiy 
may be called the last act of the inquisitorial trage- 
dy ; it is a kind of gaol delivery, appointed as often 
as a competent number of prisoners, in the inquisi- 
tion, are convicted of heresy, either by their own 
voluntary or extorted confession or on the evidence 
of certain witnesses. — The process is thus : — In the 
morning they are brought into a great hall, where 
they have certain feabits put on, which they are to 
wear in the procession. The procession is led up 
by Dominican friars ; after which come the peni- 
tents, some with san benitoes and some without, ac- 
cording to the nature of the crimes ; being all in 
black coats widiout sleeves and barefooted, with a 
wax candle in their hands. These are followed by 
the penitents who have narrowly escaped being 
burnt, who, over their black coats, have flames paijit- 

L 



( 122 ) 

cd with their points turned downwards, fuego re- 
volto. Next come the negative and relapsed, who 
are to be burnt, having flames on their habits point- 
ing upwards. After these come such as profess 
doctrines contrary to the faith of R3me, who, besides 
flames pointing upwards, have tlieir picture painted 
on their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all 
©pen mouthed about it. Each prisoner is attended 
with a familiar of the inquisition ; and those to be 
burnt have also a Jesuit on each hand, who is con- 
tinually preaching to them to abjure. After the 
prisoners, come a troop of familiars on horseback, 
and, after them, the inquisitors and other officers of 
the court, on mules ; last of all, the inquisitor gene- 
ral, on a white horse, led by two men with 
black hats and green hat bands. A scaffbd is erect- 
ed in the Tertero de Pacs^ big enough for two or 
tliree thousand people ; at one end of which are the 
prisoners — at the other, the inquisitors. After a 
sermon, made up of encomiums of the inquisition 
and invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a 
desk near the middle of the scaffold, and, having ta- 
ken the abjuration of the penitents, recites the final 
sentence of those who are to be put to death, and de- 
livers them to the secular arm, earnestly beseeching, 
at the same time, the secular powers not to touch 
their blood or put their lives in danger. The prison- 
ers being thus in the hands of the civil magistrates, 
arc presently loaded with chains and carried first to 
the secular gaol, and from thence, in an hour or two, 
brought before the civil judge, who, after asking in 
what religion they intend to die, pronounces sen- 
tence on such as declare they die in the communion 
of Ronie, that they shall be first strangled and then 
burnt to ashes ; on such as die in any other faith, 
that they be burnt alive. Both are immediately 
carried to the Ribera, the place of execution ; where 



( 123 ) 

there are as many stages set up as there are prison- 
ers to be burnt, with a quantity of dry furs about 
them. The stakes of the professed, that is, such 
as persist in theif heresy, are about four yards high, 
having a small board towards the top for the prison- 
er to be seated on. The negative and relapsed be- 
ing first strangled and burnt, the professed mount 
their stakes by a ladder, and the Jesuits, after seve- 
ral repeated exhortations to be reconciled to the 
Church, part with them, tellmg them they leave them 
to the Devil who is standing at their elbow to re- 
ceive their souls and carry them with him into the 
flames of hell. On this a great shout is raised, and 
the cry is. Let the dogs^ beards be tnade — which is 
done by thrusting flaming furzes fastened to long 
poles against their faces till their faces are burnt to 
a coal, which is accompanied with the loudest ac- 
clamations of joy. At last fire is set to the furze at 
the bottom of the stake over which the professed are 
chained so high that the top of the flame seldom 
reaches higher than the board they sit on ; so that 
they rather seem roasted than burnt. There can- 
not be a more lamentable spectacle ; the sufferers 
continually cry out while they are able, Miseri- 
cordia per amor de Dios* *' Pity for the love of 
God !" yet it is beheld by all sexes and ages with 
transports of joy and satisfaction." 

People of Massachusetts ! Sons of Englishmen 
w^ho fled to a wilderness, who sacrificed their dear- 
est connexions to religious liberty ! Merciful, hu- 
mane, gentle, kind, and brave people of Massachu- 
setts, though your Cossack priests can view with dry 
eyes and unmoved muscles this horrid spectacle, 
does it not chill the blood in your veins ? Though 
thev, with holy impudence, can put up thanksgiv- 
ing for the fall of him by whom this '' venerable 



( 124 ) 

institution" had been overthrown, and at whose fall 
its revival was a natural, if not certain consequence ; 
do not your hearts revolt at the impiousness, the 
baseness, the cruelty of the sentiment ? 

People of Massachusetts (for to your hardened 
priests will I no longer address myself) what could 
have been the real cause of this conduct on the part 
of your priests ? In the people of England it is very 
natural and reasonable to rejoice at the fall of Napo- 
leon. He had immense power ; he had threatened 
to invade- their country ; he had made preparations 
for so doing. It was therefore natural for them to 
rejoice at his fall ; but even here, with the excep- 
tion of a few hyprocrites, despised by persons of 
sense of all parties, people did not rejoice at his fall 
as an enemy of religion. Had your priests not put 
up thanksgiving for the deliverance of religion, their 
conduct might have been passed over ; but, when 
they made that the ground of their gratitude to the 
Cossacks and to Heaven, they invited the lash of 
censure ; thev called aloud for the detestation of 
mankind. 

While, indeed, the French nation seems to have 
thrown aside all religion whatever ; while they were 
setting aside all the memorials and marks of the 
Christian era, while they were apparently all Athe- 
ists, there was some reason for your priests to wish 
their overthrow. Even in that case, however, they 
would have shown more confidence in Christianity 
if they had been less bitter against the French. — ^ 
Some men thought that their extreme asperity 
against such writers as Paine seemed not to say 
that they possesed ability to defeat him in the 
field of argument ; and, indeed, seemed to argue 
that they did not feel a sufficient des^ree of confi- 
dence in the goodness of their cause itself ; for if 



( 125 ) 

they have been thoroughly convinced, as tlicy ought 
to have been, that the Christian rcHgion was built 
upon a rock, and that the gates of hell would never 
prevail against it, Paine would have been an object 
of their pity rather than of their persecution. Tlicir 
anger against him was madness, unless they appre- 
hended danger from his attempts ; and if they did 
apprehend danger from those attempts they shew^ed 
a want of sufficient confidence in their cause itself, 
which want of confidence should have taught them 
moderation in their attacks on the adversary. There 
"Nvas a great outcry about Atheism in France ; but 
w^hat was it after all but letting the human mind 
loose to range at pleasure ? When every man was 
at liberty to say what he liked, who need have been 
afraid of the cause of truth ? — He who was an in- 
sincere Christian ; he who doubted of the truth of 
Christianity ; he w^ho thought it false, but who pro- 
fessed it from interested motives, had reason to 
rail against the innovators : but he who was a real 
believer, and whose belief was founded on the con- 
clusions of reason, could not possibly have any 
ground for alarm, seeing that freedom of discussion 
is and eternally must be favourable to truth, and of 
course hostile to error and falsehood. Those, 
therefore, who are opposed to freedom of discus- 
sion on any subject, and who make use of clamours, 
slanders, or force to prevent it, may, in all cases, 
and acting under whatever pretence, be safely con- 
sidered as wishing to sustain error or falsehood. 

But these observations do not apply to the case 
of the emperor Napoleon. However just the ha- 
tred of your priests against the Atheists of France, 
there was no portion of that hatred due to him who 
re-opened the churches, who invited the perform- 
ance of religious worship, who encouraged the 

L2 



( 126 ) 

people to make provision for the maintenance of 
the purochial clergy, who went very regularly to 
hear mass himself; but who, at the same time, ef- 
fectually prevented all religious persecution, who 
countenanced and encouraged all religious sects, 
who put them all upon a footing of civil and politi- 
cal equality, and who, throughout his vast domin- 
ions, was speedily introducing such a system as to 
religion as must in a few years have inevitably root- 
ed out every fibre of superstition, and have put an 
end for ever to that spirit of persecution, which had 
so long been filling Europe with misery and crimes. 
Be he, therefore, what he might, in other re- 
spects, he had been, and he was a friend and protect- 
or of religious freedom. This quality, one would 
have thought, was that which above all others, 
ought to have pleaded in his behalf with other 
priests ; yet tliey rejoiced at his fall ; they hailed 
his enemies as the " bulwarks of religion ;" they 
put up thanksgivings for the restoration of the " ve- 
nerable institutions" which he had pulled down ; 
and they even called him **^ Antichrist," the appel- 
lation which they had formerly given to the pope. 

Let your priests say what they will of the French 
republicans and of Napoleon, the world are witness- 
es to the fact, that, even though a counter revolu- 
tion has taken place in France, that country has de- 
rived immense advantages from the revolution : that 
she is now freed from numerous oppressions before 
endured ; that her agriculture has made astonishing 
progress ; that she has got rid of her feudal tyran- 
Tiies^ her monks, her tithes; that her farmers are now 
able to undersell ours in our own markets ; that her 
manufactures are greatly increased ; and that, as 
vet, lier king has not ventured to overthrow Napo- 
leon's laws, securing to all men perfect religious li- 



( 127 ) 

berty and an equality as to all matters connected 
with religious worship and the public capacities of 
the professors of different religions. Nothing could 
be a greater compliment to Napoleon, than the stipu- 
lation with the king, that NAPOLEON'S CODE, 
civil and religious, should remain untouched. 

What ground, then, could your priests have for 
their implacable hatred of Napoleon ? Why did they 
put up thanksgiving for his overthrow? Why did they 
call the Cossacks and their associates the ** bulwarks 
of religion !'' Why did they call him the oppressor 
of Spain, who abolished the Inquisition^ and had 
driven the monks from their convents and their lux- 
ury ? What could have been the cause of their be- 
ing amongst his calumniators ? How came they to 
join in the prayers and thanksgivings of the Jesuits 
and Dominicans ? The truth is, they were actuated 
by self-interest, — They were alarmed at the conse- 
quences to which freedom of discussion might lead. 
The sudden o\'erthrow of the old establishments of 
Europe ; the great shock which the French revolu- 
tion gave to long received opinions ; the burst of 
light which had come into the human mind ; these 
alarmed them. They began to fear, that, if reli- 
gion become out of fashion in Europe, it miglit be- 
come out of fashion in Massachusetts, and leave 
them in a situation like that of the buckle makers 
when shoe strings came in vogue. — They now be- 
^an to perceive that the fiill of the pope and of the 
Romish superstition and persecutions, would be to 
them a v^st injur}'. They saw that the French and 
Napoleon were snatching the very bread and meat 
off their plates. This was the true cause of their 
hostility against him ; this was the true cause of 
their thanksgivings for the victories of the Cossacks 
and their associates, as the ** bulwarks of religion ; 



( 128 ) 

that is to say, the bulwarks of their bread and meat; 
the bulwark of their living well, without labour, on 
the earnings of you who pay them, and who do la- 
bour. The same motive would, of course, have 
induced them to abuse the pullers down of Maho- 
met. Nor must they be surprised if the world should 
suspect, that, in a similar cause, they would have 
made, if they could, a solemn league and covenant 
with the devil himself, and have called him the 
'* bulwark of religioji^ 

If this conclusion against the Cossack Priests of 
Massachusetts were not obviously deducible from 
their above-described conduct, unsupported by 
any fact ; if any other proof were \vanted, you have 
that proof in their electioneering tricks of last year, 
when amongst their objections to the electing of a 
Republican, or as they termed it, Democratic Le- 
jyislature, they complained of a former Democratic 
^Legislature in these memorable words: — " They 
" impaired \\\t consXiiuXiow^l provision for the sup- 
" port of public worship, by releasing the disaffected 
** from contributing to the^ support of permanent 
*^ teachers of piety, religion^, and morality." — That 
is to say, they complained of the " Democrats^'' for 
having endeavoured to make Massachusetts, in 
point of religious liberty, what William Penn made 
Pennsylvania, and what Napoleon had made, as 
nearly as he possibly could, France and Italy, and 
all the countries which he had conquered. Here we 
see the REAL ground of the hostility of your 
Priests to the French Republicans, to Napoleon, 
and the Republican party in America. They had 
long enjoyed the benefices of a sort of established 
and dominant church ; they had long been receiving 
compulsory payments for their support ; they had 
long felt agreeable effects of this ** venerable institu- 
tion,'* The example of France, and the practical 



( 129 ) 

effect thereof in America, had shaken their hold of 
valuable possessions ; and hence, and hence alone, 
their abuse of the French and Napoleon ; their 
dread of the continuance of his power ; their exul- 
tation at his overthrow ; and their thanksgivings for 
the restoration of those " venerable institutions" in 
Europe ; those ecclesiastical powers and profits of 
which the French and Napoleon had been the de- 
termined enemies. 

No more need be said. You, the people of Mas- 
sachusetts, who possess so much good sense who, 
have so often exercised that good sense as to other 
persons and things, cannot long remain the dupes 
of these hypocrites, who, while they have the de- 
sire of your welfare in the next world, constantly 
on their lips, are manifestly intent upon securing to 
themselves, in this world, ease and -plenty at the 
public expense. 

Wm. cobbett. 

POSTSCRIPT.— The following is the decree 
of the king of Spain, re-establishing the inquisition, 
published in a supplement to the Madrid Gazette, 
23dof July, 1814. 

" The king our lord has been pleased to enact 
the following decree. The glorious title of Catho- 
lic y by which the kings of Spain are distinguished 
among the other Christian princes, because they do 
not tolerate in their kingdom any one who professes 
another religion than the Catholic Apostolic and Ro- 
many has powerfully excited my heart to employ all 
the means which God has placed in my hands, in or- 
der to make myself worthy of it. The past troubles 
and war which afflicted all the provinces of the 
kingdom during the space of six years ; the resi- 
dence therein, during that time, of foreign troops of 
different sects ^ almost all infected with abhorrence 
and hatred to the Catholic religion i and tlie disor- 



( 130 ) 

der that these evils ahvays bring with them, toge- 
ther with the Httle care which was taken for some 
time in providing for what concerned the things of 
religion, gave to the wicked unlimited license to 
live after their free will, and to introduce in this 
kingdom, and fix in many persons, pernicious opin- 
ions^ by the same means with which they had been 
propagated in other countries. Desiring, therefore, 
to provide a remedy against so great an evil, and 
preserve in my dominions the holy religion of Jesus 
Christ, which my people love, and in which they 
have lived and do live happily, both by the duty 
which the fundamental laws of the kingdom impose 
on the prince which shall reign over it, and I have 
to observe and fulfil, as likewise being the most 
proper means to preserve my subjects from intes- 
tine dissentions, and maintain them in peace and 
tranquillity, I have thought it would be very conve- 
nient in the present circumstances that the tribunal 
of the holy office should return to the exercise of its 
jurisdiction. Upon which subject wise and virtu- 
ous prelates and many corporations and serious per- 
sons, both ecclesiastical and secular, have represent- 
ed to me that it was owing to this tribunal that 
Spain was not contaminated in the 16th century, 
with the errors that caused so much aflliction in 
other kingdoms, the nation flourishing at that time 
in all kinds of literature, in great men, in holiness 
and virtue. And that one of the principal ?neans 
employed by the oppressor of Europe^ in order to 
sow corruption and discord from which he derived 
so many advantages, was to destroy it under pre- 
tence that the light of the age could not bear its con- 
tirmance any longer ; and which afterwards the 
self-styled general Cortes with the same pretence^ 
and that of the constitution, which they had tumul- 



{ 131 ) 

tuously framed, annulled, to the great sorrow of the 
nation. Wherefore they have ardently requested" 
me to re-establish that tribunal ; and according to 
their requests and the wishes of the people, who, 
from love to the religion of their Others, have restor- 
ed, of their own accord, some of the subaltern tri- 
bunals to their functions, I have resolved that the 
council of the inquisition, and the other tribunals of 
the holy office, should be restored, and continued 
in the exercise of their jurisdiction, both ecclesiasti- 
cal, which, at the request of my august predeces- 
sors, the pontiffs gave to it, and the royal, which the 
kings granted to it, observing, in the exercise of 
both, the ordinances by which they were governed 
in 1808, and the laws and processions, which to 
avoid certain abuses, and moderate some privileges, 
it was mete to take at different times. As besides 
these provisions it may perhaps be suitable to adopt 
others ; and my intention being to improve this es- 
tablishment that the greatest utility may arise to my 
subjects from it, I wish that as soon as the council 
of the inquisition shall meet, two of its members, 
with two others of my royal council, both of whish I 
sliall nominate, should examine the form and mode 
of proceeding in the causes appertaining to the holy 
office, and the method established for the censure and 
prohibition of books ; and if there should be found 
any thing in it contrary to the good of my subjects, 
and the upright administration of justice, or that 
ought to be altered, it shall be proposed to me, that 
I may determine what shall be proper. This com- 
municated for your information, and of whom it may 
concern. 

'' Palace, 21st July, 1814. 

THE KING. 
•' To Don Pedro de Macanaz." 



FROM COBBETT'S REGISTER OF JANUARY 21. 1815. 

Jnterica.-^Ve^cQ being now happily concluded 
with the country of freedom, it will not be necessa- 
ry for me to occupy so large a portion of the Re- 
gister as I lately have, with observations relating to 
it —But, still this country, now nearly as much 
above all others in military and naval prowess as 
she is, and long has been, in civil, rehgious, and 
political liberty ; still this favoured country this 
asylum and example to the oppressed ot all other 
nations, must continue to be a deeply interesting 
obiect with every one, whom I wish to see amongst 
my readers. I shall, therefore, in future, write of 
the afiairs of America under one general rule, num- 
bering the several articles from No. I. onwards. — 
Previous to the war, I wrote several articles, under 
the form oi Letters, and otherwise; during the war 
a great many more. And, I am of opinion, if all 
these were collected together, from the month of 
July 1810, to the 14th of this present month of 
January, 1815, thev would be found to contain as 
good a history of this important struggle, as is 
likely to appear in any other shape, — The rise, the 
progress, the termination, are all here to be found 
very amply detailed. The views on both sides ; 
' the passions, the prejudices ; the means made use 
of to delude the people of England. The effect of 
the result of the contest on men's minds. AH will 
here lie found to have been faithfully recorded; 



( 133 ) 

that is to say, as far as I have dared to go ; and for 
the restraint, which I have been under, and for 
which no human ingenuity could have compensa- 
ted, the judicious and impartial reader will make a 
suitable allowance. — This, however, is only said as 
to our side of the water ; for, in the country of free- 
dom, the naked truth will be told. There every 
man will write and publish what he pleases; 
there discussions will be really free ; there no man 
will tremble while he writes ; and there truth must 
and will prevail. It is often observed, that history 
to be impartial, must be written long after the date 
of the events of which it is a record. This is a 
strange notion. It is so contrary to every rule of 
common life, that it naturally staggers one. If we 
want to keep our accounts, or the records of any 
proceedings in life, accurately^ we never lose a mo- 
ment in minuting the facts down as they occur. If 
evidence is given from a written paper, it must, to 
make the evidence good, have been written at the 
moment that the facts occurred. How sti'ange, then 
is it, that, for history to be true, that it must be 
written a century, or two, after the period to which 
it relates ; that is to say, that, to come at the real 
truth of any national occurrence, in order to arrive 
at a just decision upon the conduct of a nation, yoii 
must enter upon the inquiry after all the witnesses 
are dead, and after all the springs, hidden from 
common eyes, and which no man has dared to re- 
cord an account of in print, are wholly forgotten, 
and sunk, for ever, out of sight.— It is said, that, at 
the time when the events occur, the historian is too 
near to the passions and prejudices of the times, and 
is too likely to partake of them. But, at a hun- 
dred years after the events, what has he to refer to 
but writings of the times ; and how then is he more 

M 



( 134 ) 

likely to ^et at the truth? We suppose tlie histo- 
rian to seek earnestly for truth; and is he more 
likely to get at it, when all the springs are forgot- 
ten and all the witnesses dead, than when he has ac- 
cess to them all ? The real state of the case is this : 

the historian dares not ^'''•^"'"'f.w'har 
present events, and a true description of the char- 
acter of public histitutions, establishments, laws, 
and men, in any country except America. Iruth 
in England, may be a .ibel ; libels are punished 
more severely than the greatest part of felonies, as 
my lord Folkstone shewed, in the house of com- 
mons, from an examination of the Newgate Calen- 
dar ; and, it is well known, that m answering a 
charge of libel, the truth of what you have writ- 
ten or published, is not allowed even to be giv- 
EN IN EVIDENCE. This is the real, and the only 
ground for pretending, that history ought to be 
written long after the period to which it relates. 
But, how are you bettered by length of time ? It is 
a libel here to speak evil of the dead. The dead 
villain must not, if it give offence to certain per- 
sons, be truly characterized ; and, remember, that 
the sources, to which the historian has to refer, are 
precisely those which have been created under this 

law of libel. . 

In the great republic of America, the case is 
wholly different. There any man may publish any 
thin^ that he pleases of public measures, or public 
men provided that he confine himselt to truth m 
what he asserts to be facts. There any opinions \ 
may be published ; but here, even opinions expose 
writers, printers and publishers to punishment; 
and, observe, that that which a man may say, 
in a private letter, is held to be published, and it 
determined to be libellous, liable to punishment. 



( 135 ) 

Well may we hold it to be a maxim, that the writing 
of history ought to be delayed u\\\a\ a remote period; 
but it would be a much more sensible maxim, that 
no history written under such circumstances, (with 
a law that punishes libels on the dead) ought ever 
to be regarded as any thing better than a sort of po- 
litical romancC' There is no reason, however, why 
a history of this war should not immediately be 
written, and published in the republic, with whom, 
thank the ministers, and the President, and the 
brave repubUcans, we are now at peace. From that 
country we may now receive such a history. It 
might be a little too strong to be published here ; 
or even to be sold here. But those who wishtd for 
copies might get them through private channels ; 
though, I ought to observe, for the good of the 
unwary, that to lend a book, or, to shew a book to 
another person, is to publish a book in the eye of 
our sharp sighted libel law. 

Nevertheless, if some able and animated pen, set 
to work on this fine subject, a subject so closely 
connected with the cause of freedom all over the 
world, there is no doubt of its obtaining circulation, 
even in England ; and while it would be sure, by 
means of a French translation, .o be read all over 
the continent, where it must produce a prodigious 
effect. But I hope to see nothing of the maudling 
kind ; nothing of the milk and water ; nothing of 
the "- gentlemanly'*^ sort ; no mincing of the matter. 
But, a real, true, history, applying to persons and 
acts the appellations yN\i\d\ justice assigns them. — 
If such a work were published, rather than not pos- 
sess a copy, I would make one of my sons traverse 
the Adantic, expressly to fetch it to me. I hope, 
however, that some man in America, who feels 
upon the subject as I feel, will take the trouble to 



( 136 ) 

convey to me by a safe hand, (not through the post 
office) a copy or two of the first work of the above 
description that shall appear. But mind, I should 
despise any history which should not speak of all 
the actors, on both sides, without the smallest re- 
gard of the humbug and palaver of the day, apply- 
ing to their actions and their characters, and their 
motives, the plainest as well as the truest of epithets 
and terms. I am not much disposed to be unhappy. 
I never meet calamity half way. 

But really, such a work ; the reading of such a 
work, and hearing my children read it, would make 
up for years of misery, if I had passed such — and it 
would be much more than a compensation for all 
the sufferings of my life. In short, I have set my 
heart on this thing, and, if I am disappointed, I shall 
be grieved more than I ever yet have been ; ten 
thousand times more than I was, when I heard the 
sentence of Judge Grose on me of two years impri- 
sonment in Newgate, a thousand pounds fine to the 
king, and seven years bound to good behaviour 
afterwards, in bonds of 5,000 pounds, for having 
written about the flogging of English local militia 
at Ely, and about German dragoons. But, why 
should 1 be disappointed ? Have I not, if no one 
will take up the pen, a son to take it up in the cause 
of truth and liberty ? The world is wide ; and now 
it is open. In the mean while let us not neglect 
that which is yet within our own power. We ought 
to keep the republic constantly before our eyes. — 
Though we make her less the subject of observa- 
tion than we have done for some time past, we ought 
never to lose sight of her. The enemies of liberty 
are always on the watch to assail, through her 
sides, the object of their mortal hatred ; ?>nd, there- 
fore we ought to lose no occasion of facing and of 



( 137 ) 

fighting them. In order to facilitate reference, and 
to give something of uniformity of arrangement to 
the matter in the Register, relating to America, I 
intend to insert, under one general head, all such 
matter of my own writing, and to mention under 
that general head the several topics treated of, in the 
following manner. 

No. I. 

Mr. Hunt's motion and Sir John Cox Hippisley's speech 
respecting America 

At a meeting of the county of Somerset, on the 
9th instant, a curious occurrence took place with 
regard to the peace with America. I will first give 
the account of it from the Times newspaper of the 
16th instant, and make on it such observations as 
most naturally present themselves. The reader 
should first be informed, however, that the meeting 
was held for the purpose of discussing a petition to 
parliament against the property tax, or tax upon 
income, which tax ought, by law, to expire in a few 
months, but which tax, it is supposed, the govern- 
ment means to propose the continuation, or revival. 
The following is the report of the Times : 

*' On Monday last, at a meeting of the freehold- 
ers, &c. holden at Wells, to petition the parlia- 
ment for the repeal of the property tax after the 
business of the day was disposed of, Mr Hunt 
remarked, that the meeting should not disperse 
without expressing their thankfulness to those by 
whose efforts peace had been made between us and 
America. He, therefore, read a resolution which 
he submitted for their approbation : ' 1 hat the 
thanks of this meeting are due to those by whose 
exertions peace with the Americans, the onUj Jree 
* M2 



( 138 ) 

remaining people in the worlds has been restored to 
this country." Sir J. C. Hippesley could set no 
reason whatever for calling the Aniericans the only 
free people in the worlds and should certainly divide 
the meeting if the motion were persisted in. It was 
a LIBEL on our own country ; for his part, he 
HATED THE AMERICANS. They were a 
set of slaves to the government of France, and — 
{some expressions of disapprobation arose) when Mr. 
Dickinson said, that he certainly must join in 
deprecating the resolution. He hoped the meeting 
would not consent to compliment any nation at the 
expense of our own, and of every other in the globe. 
He had considerable reason for believing that the 
congress at Vienna was now employed in endea- 
vouring to unrivet the chains of the suffering Afru 
cans ; and engaged, as the powers of Europe were, 
in so sacred a cause, he could not consent that any 
aspersion, direct or indirect, should be cast upon 
them. Mr. Hunt then requested the sheriff to put 
the resolution, which, upon the shew of hands, was 
negatived by a very considerable majority.'^'' 

Whether there be any yre-^ country in the world 
still remaining, besides the republic of America, is 
a question that 1 do not choose to decide, or to give 
my opinion upon. But, I cannot help observing, that 
the question was decided in the negative by a meet- 
ing of the county oi Somerset only by a *' considera- 
ble majority ;" and, I must further observe that the 
report of thi^ ^^considerable majority" comes to us 
through the Ti?nes newspaper, xhdX channel of skunk- 
like abuse of America and all that is American. 
Let it be remembered, too, that the power of decid- 
ing who had the majority, lay wholly and absolutely 
with the sheriff, who la an officer appointed by the 
crown. This being the case, the words " consider- 



( 139 ) 

able majority** will be pretty well understood to 
mean any thing but a large majority ; and, perhaps, 
some people may doubt whether there was any ma- 
jority at all. At any rate, the county of Somerset 
divided upon the question of, whether America was, 
or was not, the only free country left in the world. 
This was, at last, a question for which many were 
in the affirmative, it was received and put to the 
vote without any marks of disapprobation ; while, 
on the other hand, he was hissed, who said that he 
hated the Americans, and who called them the 
slaves of the French government. And xuhy, good 
Sir John, do you hate the Americans ? What have 
they done to you ? You say, that they are the 
slaves of the government of France ; but you do not 
find it convenient to produce any proof of what you 
say. 

This, sir John, is one of the old stale falsehoods 
of the Times newspaper, which you are retailing at 
second hand, like a Grub-street pedlar. You are, in 
this instance, a poor crawling imitator of a wretched 
grinder of paid- for paragraphs. Prove, or attempt 
to prove what you say. Attempt, at least, to prove, 
that the Americans are the slaves, or have been, the 
slaves of the French ; or, you must be content to go 
about saddled with the charge of having made an 
assertion, that the Americans were not in any shape 
or degree, subservient to France. I assert, tliat 
they all along acted the part of a nation truly inde- 
pendent. I assert that they, in no case, shewed a 
partiality for the government of Napoleon. If any 
proof were wanted of their having placed no reliance 
upon France, we have it in the fact, the fact so hon- 
ourable, so glorious to them, and so unfortunate for 
us ; I mean the fact of their continuing the contest 
after Napoleon was put down, and still, as firmly as 



( 140 ) 

before, refusing to give up to us one single poi?tt, 
though they saw us allied with all Europe, and 
though they saw the whole of our monstrous force 
directed against them, having no other enemy to 
contend with. This proves that they placed no re- 
liance upon France. When they declared war, they 
saw us with a powerful enemy in Europe. 

Upon that circumstance they, of course calculat- 
ed, as they had a right to do ; but, when that ene- 
my, contrary to their expectation, was put down all 
of a sudden, and the whole of our enormous force 
was bent against America, she was not intimidated. 
She still set us at defiance ; she faced us ; she fought 
u» ; and, at the end of a few months, instead of re- 
ceiving a vice rot/ at Washington, as we had been 
told she would, she brought us to make peace with 
her without her giving up to us one single point of 
any sort. Deny this, if you can, sir John ; and, if 
you cannot, answer to the people of Somerset for the 
speech, which the Times has published as yours. 
But, sir John, why do you hate the Americans ? 
You cannot, surely, hate them because they pay 
their President only about six thousand pounds a 
year, not half so much as our apothecary gene- 
ral receives. You, surely, cannot hate them be- 
cause they do not pay in the gross amount of their 
taxes as much as we pay for the mere collection and 
miKiagcment of ours. You, surely, cannot hate 
tlicm because they keep no sinecure placemen, and 
no pensioners, except to such as have actually ren- 
dered them services, and to them grant pensions 
only by vote of their real representatives. You, 
surt ly, cannot hate them because, in their country, 
the press is really free, and truth cannot be a libel. 
Y(;i., surely, cannot hate them because they have 
shewn that a cheap government is, in fact the 



( 141 ) 

strongest of all governments, standing in no need 
of the troops or of treason- laws to defend it in times 
even of actual invasion. 

You may, indeed, /?zVy them, because they are 
destitute of the honour of being governed by some 
illustrious family ; because they are destitute of 
dukes, royal and others, of most noble marquises, of 
earls, viscounts and barons ; because they are desti- 
tute of knights of the garter, thistle and bath, grand 
crosses, commanders and companions ; because 
they are, in spite of the efforts of the Massachusetts 
intriguers, still destitute of illustrious highnesses, 
right honourables, honourables, and esquires ; be- 
cause they are destitute of long robes and big wigs, 
and see their lawyers, of all ranks, in plain coats of 
grey, brown, or blue, as chance may determine ; be- 
cause they are destitute of a church established by 
law and of tythes : you may, indeed, pity the repub- 
licans on these accounts ; but, sir John, it would be 
cruel to hate them. To hate is not the act of a 
christian, and very illy becomes a man like yourself, 
who has been a hero, a perfect dragon, in combat- 
ing the anti-christian principles of the French revo- 
lution. Pity the Americans, sir John. P^orgive them, 
sir John. Pray for them, sir John. But do not hate 
them, thou life-and-fortune defender of our holy 
religion. Pray that they may speedily have a king 
and royal family, with a commander in chief and 
field marshals; that they may have a civil list and 
sinecures ; that they may have lords, dukes, grand 
crosses, clergy, regular army, and tythes ; pray tor 
these things, in iheir behalf, liS long as you please ; 
pray that the Americans, may have as good a gov- 
ernment as we have ; but, because they have it not, 
do not hate them. 

I was really very happy to perceive, that you 



( 142 ) 

were hissed for this sentiment, at the county nieet^ 
inff I was happy to perceive it, because it was a 
sign, that the people of England are coming to their 
senses upon this the most important of all subjects. 
Why could you not have expressed yourself m 
terms less hostile to every generous and humane 
feeling ? I confess that Mr, Hunt's motion, though 
if he thought it true, he was right in making it, 
might fairly be objected to by any one who thought 
differently. But, you might have reprobated the 
endeavour to describe England as not free, (if you 
regarded her as being free) without saying that you 
hated the xVmericans. This it was, that shocked the 
meetins;, and, accordingly it hooted you, as appears 
from the report, as published even by the Times 
newspaper. Every effort ought now to be made to 
produce reconciliation with America ; and you, ap- 
pear to have done all that you were able to do, to 
perpetuate the animosities engendered by the war. 
Mr. Dickinson managed his opposition to the mo- 
tion more adroitly. He observed, that the holy war 
powers, now in congress at Vienna, were, "A^ had 
considerable reason to believe," engaged man eftort 
to unrivet the chains of the African slave, and, 
therefore, he could not consent to any motion that 
mi8;ht seem to glance against their people being 
free.— So, Mr. Dickinson concluded, it seems, that 
if the ** sacred cause" powers should settle upon 
^some general prohibition against the increase of 
slaves in the fVest Indies, there cannot possibly re- 
main any thing like slavery in Russia, Prussia, Po- 
land, Germany, Bohemia, Transylvania, Sclavcma, 
Italy, Spain or Portugal. ^ 

I should like to have heard the chain of argument 
through which this member for Somerset arrived at 
such a conclusion from such premises. I suppose 



( 143 ) 

that it must have been something in this way : That 
the '^ sacred cause" powers are all perfectly sin- 
cere in their professions ; that, being so, it is impos- 
sible, to believe, that they would shew so much anx- 
iety for the freeing of the Africans, while they held 
their own subjects in slavery ; and that, therefore^ 
it is impossible to beheve, that the people of Rus- 
sia, Germany, and Hungary, are not perfectly free. 
I dare say, that Mr. Dickinson said a great deal 
more upon the subject, and produced ^ac^^ as well 
as arguments to prove, that Mr. Hunt's motion was 
an unjust attack upon those powers ; and 1 confess, 
that it would Le a great treat to me to see thoseyac^^ 
upon paper. 



A GLIMPSE 



OF THE 



AMERICAN VICTORIE S, &c. &c 

IT is a duty the people of the United States, 
both individually and collectively, owe their legiti- 
mate sovereign Lord and King the Great Jehovah, 
to remember with sentiments of unfeigned grati- 
tude and thankfulness our recent desperate conflict 
and pacification with Great Britain. 1 at first pur- 
posed merely to compile some of the most distin- 
guished of the American victories as an appendix 
to the prefixed letters of Mr. Cobbett, but I cannot 
let the present opportunity slip, (although I am cen- 
sured by bigots and pharisees tor writing on poli- 
tics) without reminding the American population, 
of the paternal kindness of their father and their 
king in their late time of trial ; that it may stimu- 
late us all to render unto him the grateful tribute 
of thanksgiving for his unspeakable goodness ; and 
those who refuse so to do, especially after reading 
these remarks are guilty of the basest and blackest 
ingratitude, than which a greater crime men cannot 
commit, nationally or individually. May every 
American heart palpitate with ardent love to our 
glorious king, and every eye glisten with tears of 
gratitude, while reading a concise recapitulation of 
his loving kindness to these rising states in the time 
of our greatest extremity. If one hundred, or even 
one reader is stimulated by these remarks to love 
and praise God for the national blessing we havti 
received, I will consider myself sufficientlv reward- 

N 



( 146 ) 

ed Perhaps it would be proper in this place, to 
point out concisely the causes as well as the con- 
sequences of the late war. The impressment ot 
American seamen by the British naval command- 
ers, appears to be the chief cause thereof, h^ven 
president Washington remonstrated and reprobated 
this unlawful practise in the strongest terms. 

Also, the restrictions on Our commerce was a just 
cause of complaint. 

" On the 25th of March, 1807, an act of parlia- 
ment passed, the object of which was to permit the 
United States to trade to France and her dependen- 
cies, on condition, that our vessels should first en- 
ter some British port, pay a transit duty, and take 
out a license ! A compUance with this unprece- 
dented regulation would have subjected a single 
can>;o of flour to the payment of more than eight 
diousand dollars, and an ordinary cargo of cotton 
to more than fifty thousand dollars. On the article 
of tobacco alone Great Britain would have extorted 
from us the annual tribute of two millions, three 
hundred, and thirty-eight thousand dollars. Ihe 
payment of these duties on all our articles of ex- 
poVtation would have drawn from us a yearly sum 
more than sufficient to pay the interest on our na- 
tional debt. Under the orders in council more 
American vessels and cargoes were seized and con- 
demned than have been captured by the enemy 
since the declaration of war. 

Such, is a short, and impartial glimpse o^ the acts 
of ac:gression and rapacity which led to the war. 
Were we disposed to add^o the colouring of the 
picture we might call to recollection the outrages 
on our territorial jurisdiction by the blockade of 
the mouths of our harbours and rivers, the murder 
of our citizens within our own waters, the attack 



( 147 ) 

on the Chesapeake, the disavowal of P>skine's ar- 
rangement, the excitement of the savages to hostiU 
ities oh our frontier inhabitants and the authorised 
mission of John Henry, for the purpose of j^rocluc- 
ing civil war and. a severance of the union.'' 

The ahnost miraculous transactions which hap. 
pened on the theatre of war in Europe soon after 
the declaration of war against England by the Amer- 
ican government, might be considered big with 
portentious events to this country. I wouli ask 
imy man who believes in the divine agency, and 
that a sparrow does not fall to the ground without 
the notice of God, if he cannot clearly see the 
finger of Heaven raised, or if you please, the spe- 
cial interposition of Providence exerted in our be- 
half in the recent sanguinary contest. 

After enduring with proverbial patience a thou- 
sand indignities, the loss of nearly one thousand sail 
of our ships, and impressment of thousands of our 
citizens, we declared war against the invader of 
our rights, when eight of the European nations 
combined with France against England. Soon after 
this eventful period France fails in her military 
enterprises. All Euroi)e arms against her, and the 
coalition triumphs at the gates of Paris. France 
being humbled, England turns her military and 
maratime vengeance upon us, wliile we had only 
one arm to raise against her accumulating fury, the 
other nervous and powerful arm being tied down 
by the spirit of faction and political rancour. Thus 
with one hand the United States found themselves 
engaged with the greatest power on earth. The 
*' bits of striped bunting" float alone against the 
crimson banner of the queen of the ocean. All the 
friends of liberty trembled for our fate ; and the 



( 148 ) 

only free country on earth would have fallen a 
victim to the spirit of despotism, had not God 
been our defender. After the subjugation of France 
the arms of the United States were more victori- 
ous than they were ever before. Many and san- 
guinary were the conflicts on land and water in 
which victory crowned our just cause. In New- 
England the enemy gained a partial preponderance, 
because of the disaffection of its big men to our 
just cause : and in Washington, Georgetown, and 
Alexandria, they were permitted by a similar spirit 
in the little men to burn the capital. In the first 
instance the state-rulers would not lead on the brave 
Bostonians to repel and chastise the invading foe, 
and in the last the people would not support their 
rulers while repelling their enemies. I recollect 
about two years ago, I saw in Georgetown, hand- 
bills posted up, wherein the inhabitants were noti- 
fied that a meeting was appointed, also, a day of 
thanksgiving, rejoicing and feasting, for the recent 
Russian victories, and of course English victories 
over the French. An oration was delivered at the 
English church, and te deum was sung. When I 
saw these things, I exclaimed in the language of 
astonishment, "is it possible that toryism is thus 
permitted to flourish in the centre of the republic." 
The people who thus rejoiced at the victories of 
our enemy, I queried if they would defend their 
own capital if invaded ; the sequel proved that my 
fears were not without foundation. I had also pro- 
posed to disseminate a number of the fourth edition 
of my " Charms of Benevolence, and Patriotic 
Mentor, or the Rights and Privileges of Republi- 
canism contrasted with the Wrongs and Usurpa- 
tions of Monarchy," with this motto : 



( 149 ) 

Freedom's the ]>earl of life, the poor man's store," 
But life is death when Freedom is no more. 

But I was informed by a patriotic plebian, that I 
would meet with no encouragement for a work of 
that description. Hence I directed my agert to 
disseminate them in other parts of Maryland and 
Virginia, and for my part I did not sell one myself 
in the above three towns. The reader is humbly 
intreated to pardon this digression which does not 
properly belong to the subject, but to which we 
now return by boldly asserting that no victory dur- 
ing the war, so effectually aided our just cause as 
this cowardly catastrophe, because it first united 
the hearts of all republicans in support of their gen- 
eral government, and at the same time disgusted 
all civilized nations, at the barbarous mode of -war- 
fare carried on by England, against the arts, as well 
as the arsenals of the United States. After this 
mortifying but most fortunate event, the American 
arms were triumphant, and an honourable peace 
was the fruit thereof. 

In this short but sanguinary conflict, we have 
taken the following public vessels from the enemy. 

ON TflE OCKAN. 



1 Guerriere, 

2 Macedonian, 

3 Java, - - 

4 Cyane, 

5 Hermes, - 

6 Frolic, 

7 Pe Cock, - 

8 Epervier, 

9 Avon 

10 Reindeer, 



38 


1 1 L-^vant, - - 




18 


38 


12 Alert, - - • 




16 


38 


13 Boxer, - - 




16 


34 


14 St Lawrence, 




12 


28 


15 Hii^hflytr, - • 




11 


18 


16 Dominica, • • 




12 


18 


17 Bdlahoo, - ■ 




8 


18 


18 Whiiinpf, - • 




4 


18 


19 Landraille, - • 




4 


18 









N2 



( 


( 150 ) 




ON THE LAKES. 




^•Confiance, . . 


. 39 


27 Hunter, . . . , 


10 


21 Burnt at York,) . 


, 38 


28 Berrtsford, . . . 


14 


32 Detroit, .... 


20 


29 Duke of Gloucester, 


12 


23 Lady P revest, 


. 16 


30 Chippewa, . . . 




24 Linnet, . . . 


. 16| 


3 I Nancy, .... 


2 


35 On L. Champlain,) 


. Ill 


32 Little Belt, . . . 


2 


36 (Ditto) 


11 







Of packets, which are king's vessels, generally 
first rate vessels, from 200 to 400 tons burthen, 
armed with 10 guns, we have captured the follow- 
ing, viz. 



1 Ann. 


11 


Nocton. 


2 Carteret. 


12 


Prince Adolphus. 


3 Duke of Montrose. 


13 


Princess Amelia. 


4 Express. 


14 


Princess Elizabetho 


5 Fox. 


15 


Princess Elizabeth, 


6 Francis Freeling. 


16 


Swallow. 


7 Lapwing. 


17 


Townsend. 


8 Mary Ann. 


18 


Lady Mary Pelham 


9 Manchester. 


19 


Windsor Castle. 


Morgiana. 







The preceding are public vessels ; of private 
vessels, Niles' last list is 1551, which have been 
brought safe into port or destroyed. Including the 
recaptures, it may be safely stated that we have 
taken at least 3000 vessels from the enemy. 

Before I proceed to give a more particular glimpse 
of our military and maritime victories, I will take 
the liberty to introduce my ^'■Persuasive to political 
7noderation,^^ as it is in my view the most important 
part of our compilation, and lies nearest my heart. 



( 151 ) 



A PERSUASIVE TO 

POLITICAL MODEJIA TlOiV, ^c, 

IT is most assuredly the duty of every rational 
being, to do all possible good to his fellow crea- 
tures, not only with a disinterested view of profiting 
them, but also of pleasing our common Creator. 
And m order to do good to men, we must accommo- 
date our admonitions to their passions, their prcju- 
dices, and their local prepossessions. 1 o cause the 
sons of error to see its fatality ; docility, mildness, 
and moderation must be used. The grand work I 
desire to accomplish herein, is no less than a union 
of all republicans in the United States, for the j^ros- 
perity of the republic. Was my power equal to my 
will, there should be but two parties in the United 
States ; namely, whig and tory ; the friend and the 
enemy of kingcraft. And though I would not ad- 
vise my compatriots, when they feel the hour of 
their dissolution approaching, like the father of 
Hannibal, to take their children to the altar, and 
swear them to eternal hostility against the invaders 
of their country's liberty and independence ; yet 
would I stimulate by the most reasonable argumen- 
tation, the votaries of republicanism, to inspire 
their children with a just detestation of monarchy, 
^y presenting them with this, and similar publi- 
cations for their serious investigation. 

The present attempt, although romantic, is surely 
excusable. To break down party prejudice, to al- 
lay the impetuosity of political intolerance, requires 
a more powerful pen than mine. The late war has 
given all parties and politicians in our country, 
clearly to see the deleterious and gigantic evils 
which aie most likely to be produced in our soli- 



( 152 ) 

tary republic, by political animosity and party 
strife. Our representative republic and federal gov- 
ernment was in danger from this cause, which will 
again and again produce the same effect, if not 
remedied or removed, and it is the duty of every 
friend to his country to use his individual endea- 
vours to contribute his aid, in order to accomplish 
this great and important object. If there are wor- 
shippers of royalty in the federal ranks, I verily 
believe there are also domestic tyrants and intole- 
rant politicians in the democratic ranks. I abhor 
the spirit of intolerance, both political and religious; 
appCcir in what party it may, it is most destructive 
to the public weal, and should be exploded as the 
bane of the republic. Surely the strong should 
always be ready to extend the hand of charity to 
the weak ! There are many, no doubt, true repub- 
licans in the federal ranks, and not a few fought, 
conquered, and died, in defence of the republic in 
the late war. These things should not be forgot 
by the powerful party. To each surviving hero, as 
well as those who are sleeping on a foreign shore, 
every tribute that is due to virtue and valour should 
be paid. Surely the worshippers of kings, dukes, 
marquises, earls, lords, and the Lord knows only 
what, are justly despised and execrated by all true 
rtpuolicans, in the federal as well as the democratig 
ranks. The servile worshippers of what they call 
*^ legitimate monarchs," in monarchical countries, 
I pity from my heart, because they are hood -wink- 
ed from youth to age, by their tory scholastic and 
eclesiastic teachers, so that they live and die the 
victims of political delusion ; but men who were 
bred and born in the United States, and with the 
best political information, practical, as well theo- 
retical, and who, notwithstanding, long for, sigh 



( 153 ) 

for, pray for, preach for, write for, and act for a 
royal government ; such men, if such men exist in 
the United States, 1 have far less charity for than 
for the highway robber : and 1 do verily believe, 
they are as hateful in the sight of Heaven, as they 
are in my sight, and equally an enemy of God and 
man. I feel nothing but love and charity to all 
mankind, my bitterest enemies included, and could 
circle them all in one kind embrace — these mis- 
creants only excepted, if there be any such in the 
United States. Even the royalists who have slaugh- 
tered tens of thousands of the population of Spanish 
America, because, forsooth, they willed to be free, 
and fought for independence, 1 feel charity for, be- 
cause they are blindly led on against their fellow 
citizens by the prejudice of education, and think 
they are fighting for, and supporting a just cause ; 
but not so with the American royalist. Who, I 
ask, can read the following recent intelligence from 
Spanish America, and not feel pity for the one 
party and detestation for the other : 

Barbadoesy March 20. 

INTERESTING DETAIL OF RECENT OCCURREN- 
CES ON THE SPANISH MAIN. 

«* We published on the 6th ult. important infor- 
mation received by the way of Curracoa, respecting 
the operations of the belligerent republicans and 
royalists, in the provinces of Venezuela and the 
Carraccas. The army of the royalist party, under 
Bovis, had taken Barcelona and Cumana, and was 
then marching on towards Maturin, near which 
place a battle had been fought, in which the re- 
publicans, under Bolivar, had sustained considera. 
ble loss. 



( 154 ) 

A continuation of this intelligence is furnished 
by the Jamaica papers, brought up by H. M. ship 
Niemen, which arrived at this place on the 14th 
inst, and has since sailed for England. 

The royalist general Morales, having laid siege 
to the town of Maturin, sent them the following 
summons : 

** Inhabitants of Maturin. — The rapidity with 
which the arms of the Spanish monarchy have sub- 
dued the several provinces of Venezuela, is a clear 
proof that Divine Providence favours a just cause. 
You are the last that oppose to us resistance, which 
must prove fruitless. I do now offer to you an 
honourable capitulation. — Lay down your arms, 
and any one among you who do not wish to live 
under the royal government, shall have a passport 
to any colonial he may choose. The others, who 
consent to remain, shall have their rights and pro- 
perty respected. 

Thomas Morales^ General in Chiefs 

To which summons, the following answer was 
returned by the commander in chief of the town of 
Maturin, Don Jose Francisco Btrmudez : 

*' Since Maturin has raised the standard of liberty, 
the valour of its inhabitants has been conspicuous 
more than once ; they have sworn to bury them- 
selves under the ashes of their town, rather than 
submit aofain to tht- despotic government that has 
for ages oppressed them : — that oath they now re- 
new. You boast of your jH'ecarious advantages and 
of the large force under your command, which you 
say is more than adequate to compel us to surren« 
der ; you may. General, put them in motion ; we 
are ready and disposed to face it, and if you con- 
quer us, it shall be on ashes and dead bodies that 



( 155 ) 

your victory shall be celebrated ; by consent of all 

those under mv orders. 

•I 

Jose Francisco Bermudez." 

Finding that the city of Maturin was determin- 
ed to make manly resistance, general Morales made 
the requisite preparations, and immediately storm- 
ed the works of the republicans, and took posses- 
sion of the place. In this sanguinary conflict the 
royalists are said to have lost about three thousand 
men, and the republicans upwards of four thousand. 

Morales, who is the successor of the brutal Broves, 
who put all the inhabitants of Cumana to death 
(with the exception of eight families) caused him- 
self to be proclaimed by the army, which destroyed 
Maturin, *' Commander in chief," and all eastward 
from the capital, inclusive, is considered under his 
government ; whilst Valencia, Puerto, Cabello, and 
the territory to the westward, acknowledged general 
Cagigal as their chief." 

Yet these royalists are angels compared to those 
in the United States, who were it not for the in- 
terposition of our mighty and merciful sovereign, 
would have produced the same reverse, the same 
desolation, the same degradation in the United 
States, as was experienced by the republicans of 
Maturin. O ! reader, pause a moment and reflect 
upon their anguish, and your recent narrow escape 
from similar wretchedness, and love, and thank, 
and praise your good king who delivered you 
therefrom. 

The population of Massachusetts, although they 
have, through their legislature, opposed the general 
govtrnnient, in the late sanguinary conflict, are 
*' e-sh 'itiully n publican :" they have been led astray 
from the path in which their lathers trod by the 



( 156 ) 

wrong association of ideas exhibited before their 
intellectual eyes, by men who pant for power in the 
republic, and not as many suppose, royalty. 1 do 
not, I cannot believe that even the American born 
leaders of the federalists of New-England would 
erect a monarchical government on the ruins of our 
republic, if it was in their power. There may be 
some indeed, who are base and abominable enough 
to act thus, but I believe they are very few, and 
are chiefly foreigners ; but I do contend that all 
federal republicans are bound to cashier such men 
when recognized in their ranks, or they should at 
least come out from among the eulogists of monar- 
chy, who have the consummate effrontery to advo- 
cate directly or indirecilv the ** Divine ris^ht of 
kings," and the laws of primogenitureship in this 
free country. Let them rally under the standard 
of their country, that their children may participate 
the precious liberty their own fathers died to pur- 
chase for posterity. The Almighty has most in- 
dubitably a predilection for the United States as he 
had for his Israelitish theocracy, and the fact is 
clearly demonstrated in the late war ; and it requires 
no spirit of divination to foresee that what the Bri- 
tish navy is now, the American nayy, though at 
present in its infancy, will be in following years. 
I will take the liberty to particularize a thought 
that this moment struck my mind, which will ap- 
pear, no doubt, both chimerical and romantic — it 
is this : that the nations of Europe, who will not 
suffer the light of political knowledge to shine upon 
their minds, and will, forsooth, worship their wick- 
ed kings, popes, bishops, and priests, lords, dukes, 
earls, and marquises, will be kft to dwindle into 
their primeval insignificance, and take a counter- 
march back to their original barbarian ignorance, 



( 157 ) 

while our gracious sovereign will reserve these 
United States to be the asylum for all the indivi- 
duals of Europe who wish to be free, and refuse to 
kiss the royal foot that kicks them, and support the 
episcopal hand that loads them with chains, and 
immuies ihem in an inqnisition. Thus, by impor- 
tation, as well as by propagation, will our free, en- 
lightened, and independent population be extended 
to South America on the one part, and the Pacific 
Ocean on the other. Although at present the peo- 
ple of Spanish America are permitted by Heaven 
to be unfortunate, and are forced to serve their op- 
pressors, in order, when they are delivered there- 
from, they may duly appreciate the intrinsic value 
of civil and religious liberty. Yet I firmly believe 
the day is not far distant when they will rise supe- 
rior to their present tyrants, and become a sister 
republic, adopting our institutions and government. 
Thus, in my opinion, will all America be rtivolu- 
tionized, north and south, from the frigid to the 
torrid zone, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Oceans. Those who feel disposed to laugh at this 
(as they will think) premature hypothesis, will please 
to remember what the Jb?liropean nations were when 
the Roman commonwealth was in the full tide of 
its glory, and now contrast the one with the other : 
so great \viU be the dissimilarity between the Eu- 
ropean and American states in following years. 
The American nation will not only be the most 
potent and enlightened, but also the most singular 
nation that is, or ever was on earth ; while the Eu- 
ropean villas will become jungels for wild beasts — 
the American wilderness will blossom like the rose 
—-flourishing cities will be erected on the shores of 
the Pacific as on the Atlantic Ocean, and an inland 
passage established of three thousand miles between 

O 



( 158 ) 

thenl : — the natives thereof will be instructed, not 
by the votaries of bigotry and superstition, and the 
slaves of priest anu king- craft, as the aborigines of 
Europe originally were, b^it by the free-born, the 
liberal, the enlightened sons of liberty and Colum 
bia : and as our ships no\^ plougn the /vtiantic, so 
will they in following years plough the Pacific 
Ocean. — Our land will extend to all climates, and 
our ^^ bits of striped bunting^'' wave wherever the 
billows roll or winds can wave them : then will 
England be, at least in a naval point of view, what 
Carthage is now, and America what England is 
now. However, let this hypothesis be as it may, 
I devoutly pray that the light of religious and po- 
litical knowledge may shine upon ail men who wish 
to be free and independent, and who feel disposed 
to worship uq king but the King of Heaven, and 
pay homage to no priest but our blessed Redeemer, 
the high priest of our holy religion. But to re- 
turn : — I would beseech both of the great political 
parties in the United States, to learn from the for- 
bearance of God to them to bear with one another : 
let the demo's of the south, when they are nbout 
dealing political anathemas to their brethren of the 
east, let them remember Bunkers-hill, and be mild 
and moderate in their animadversions, and noti 
punish or wish to punish the innocent with the 
guilty ; and even the subsequent vice of a delin- 
quent should not totally obliterate his antecedent 
virtue. Mild words and kind expostulations will 
metamorphosis an enemy to a friend, and vice versa, 
with bitter words of reproach and calumny. 



A WORD 

TO THK 

Federalists of Massachusetts. 

Perhaps no state in the union contributed more 
largely and invincibly to establish the liberty and 
independence of the United States than your state. 
Then let not the imperfection of the men in power 
cause you to oppose the government your fathers 
died to establish; use all constitutional means to 
correct abuses, but no violent means. He who is 
not willing to submit to a government established 
and supported by the majority, is- not a true repub- 
lican, profess what he may ; and should not the 
federalists in power in Massachusetts use political 
moderation themselves, while they declaim against 
the intolerance of the democrats in power in the 
district of Columbia ? Surely they should. A con- 
trary line of conduct will have a direct tendency to 
hurl them from office, or otherwise cause their en- 
terprising and valuable opponents to emigrate to 
other states more congenial to their principles, and 
favourable to their talents. This they have done 
and are still doing : — I mean emigrating from the 
eastern to the western states ; and this is a \cTy se- 
rious evil, and pregnant with the must fatal conse- 
quences to the eastern states, which 1 tremble to 
think of, much more to express. 

From such fatal consequences good Lord deliver 
us. The federalists now in power in Massachusetts 
by acting intolerant, will give the lie in form to the 
assertions of all the federalists in the union, and be 
a burlesque on their collective pretensions. It will 
cause all people who have common sense to dread 
and despise them, because every body knows that 



( 160 ) 

if all the state legislatures, opposed tlie general gov- 
ernment as that of Massachusetts unhappily have 
done during the late war ; the republicans of the 
United States, would be this day in the same la- 
mentable state as those of Spanish America now 
are in, and the bloody standard of despotism would 
now surmount the ^^bits of striped bunting^'' through- 
out the United States, and the last remains of civil 
and religious freedom would l^e exterminated from 
the face of the earth. 

A WORD TO THE POPULATION OF MASSACHU- 
SETTS IN GENERAL. 

Your wealth, your numbers, your talents, your 
private virtues ; but above all, the distinguished, 
the honourable, the successful part you acted in 
the revolution, entitle you to a large share of influ- 
ence in the national legislature. 

This influence you have totally lost ; investigate 
and remove the cause that has produced this unplea- 
sant and mortifying effect. You say the constitution 
of the United States is defective. If sO, the proper 
mode of amendment is at hand, and ready provided; 
let these defects be exhihited in a constitutional 
manner, and let the majority correct them, if real, 
and if only supposed, let the minoiTty submit to the 
decision of the majority as they are in duty bound, 
agreeable to the fundamental principles of republi- 
canism. 

THE PEOPLE OF NEW-ENGLAND COLLECTIVELY, 

I would entreat to remember the valour of their 
departed i)arents, and the guardian care of their 
heavenly Parent in "the times that tried men's 
souls," and show their gratitude by properly appre- 
ciating and protecting the liberty they purchased 
with their blood. A vaunt then, all party prejudices, 



( 161 ) 

and let the sons of the north join their brethren of 
the south, in returning the grateful tribute of thanks- 
giving to our Almighty Sovereign, for tlie recent 
restoration of an honourable peace. Let us all re- 
joice in the happy result of the contest in w hich we 
were engaged. The rights and honour of the re- 
public, have been maintained under peculiar disad- 
vantages. The w(yr\d has seen what we have done 
with one hand, and they know what we could do 
with both. The energies, the public spirit, the 
unexampled valour of the sons of liberty at a time 
of arduous trial, have been unfolded, and will, no 
doubt, in future guard us from the insult and in- 
jury which previously were heaped upon us by the 
belligerents till the cup of our patient endurance 
was full and running over. Let us all, now peace 
is restored, prove faithful to the federal union, re- 
verence the laws, and look down local prejudice 
and political intolerance, seeing " we arc all repub- 
licans, all federalists." Let all tories, monarchists 
and aristocrats in this free country, be considered 
as snakes in the grass, or like the dog in the man- 
ger. If they will not enjoy the blessings of civil 
liberty themselves, let them not at their peril at- 
tempt to rob their neighbours of this sacred bles- 
sing. And if they wish for royalty, let them cross 
the'^Atlantic, and there enjoy it in superabundance, 
and there worship their kings and priests as much 
as they choose. Oh ! people of the United States, 
let us all with one accord recapitulate the mercies 
of our gracious King, that our hearts may be en- 
flamed with supreme gratitude to him. 1 hear, or 
mtthinks 1 hear, the true American repeating the 
following soliloquy, or acknowledgment of the di- 
vine bounty to these United States, with sentiments 
of unfeigned gratitude. 

O 2 



( 162 ) 

" Yes, I humbly acknowledge that no people on 
earth ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate 
the goodness of the great disposer of events, and 
of the destiny of nations, than the people of the 
United States. His kind Providence originally 
conducted them to one of the best portions of the^ 
dwelling place, allowed for the great family of the 
human race. He protected and cherished them, 
under all the difficulties and trials to which they 
were exposed in their early days. Under his fos- 
tering care, their habits, their sentiments, and their 
pursuits, prepared them for a transition in due time, 
for a state of independence and of self government. 
In the arduous struggle by which it was attained, 
they were distinguished by multiplied tokens of 
his benign interposition. During the interval which 
succeeded, he reared them into the strength, and 
endowed them with the resources, which have en- 
abled them to assert their national rights, and to 
enhance their national character, in another arduous 
conflict, which is now happily terminated, by a peace 
and reconciliation with those who have been our 
enemies. And to the same Divine Author of every 
good and perfect gift, we are indebted for all those 
privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, 
which are "so richly enjoyed in this favoured land. 

" If there is a country on earth, since the days of 
the ancient Jews, that may be styled happy, it is the 
territory occupied and inhabited by the people of 
the United States of America. It is a country 
(including Louisiana) of great extent, embracing 
every desirable degree of climate, and containing all 
the varic ties of soil. It produces in abundance all 
kinds of nourishing grain, vegetables, fruits, and 
mineral substances. Animals of every tribe flour- 
ish and luxuriate in its extensive pastures. Man 



( 163 ) 

(by divine bounty) the Lord of the inferior creation 
here rears his head with becoming dit^nitv. 

" Unawed by the arbitrary mandate of a master, 
uncramped by the imperious will and command ol 
a tyrant, he can call himself and his possessions his 
0XV71, The operations of his mind are free ; he can 
reason upon the subjects of religion and civil gov- 
ernment and publish his sentiments without con- 
trol ; and choose his own religion and his ow n le- 
gislator ; without being compelled to support a sect 
or profession he cannot with a good conscience 
embrace, or to obey a law that he has not by his 
representatives given his consent to. 

*' Other nations may be mentioned, who possess 
a fine climate, a rich soil, valuable produce of every 
kind ; but divested of the civil and religious rights 
of man, 



The poor inhabitant 



Sighs, in the nndst of nature's bounties curst. 
And in the gen'rous vineyard dies for tliirst ! 

" Where is the country (America excepted) diat 
possesses a free representative government. W'lurc 
is the country, that is not more or 4ess encumbered 
with a civirestablishment in religion It is tiie 
peculiar excellence of the American Constitution, 
that it not only possesses a general representative 
government, but that every particular state has its 
own distinct legislature within itself. This pre- 
serves a proper eqniliorium, answers every pur})0se 
of security, protection and dt fence, and seems to 
promise stabilitv and long duration.— America ha^ 
set an instructive example to the world, that religion 
mav exist, may prosper and flouribh, without the 
aid 'of a civil es'tablishment. How many churches 



{ 164 ) 

have been erected, and are supported in this city, 
and elsewhere, by the voluntary donations and con- 
tributions of individuals. How pleasing, how ex- 
ceedingly gratifying is it to a generous and philan- 
thropic mind to behold them all on an equal foot- 
ing — to think that the richest and most numerous 
sects enjoy no legal privileges or prerogatives above 
the smallest and the least opulent, that none are 
guarded by test or corporation acts, that none exist 
only by connivance or permission, that all are equal- 
ly under the protection of the laws of the state,- and 
that intoleration is unknown in this happy country* 
*' It was God who preserved and protected the 
first settlers in this country, when they were com- 
paratively few, and struggling almost under unsur- 
mountable difficulties. Under his guardian and fos- 
tering hand they grew up and flourished, and con- 
verted woods and deserts into fruitful lands. It was 
God who carried our countrymen honourably and 
succebstully through the hard and difficult trials 
and conflicts of the revolutionary vi^ar. He saved 
them with a mighty salvation. He was the shield 
of their help and the sword oj^ their excellency. It 
was God who inspired and directed their wise men 
to form good and estimable Constitutions, and es- 
tablish a system of civil and religious Hberty which 
may jusdy challenge the admiration of the world. 
It was the same almighty and merciful Being who 
saved us in the late war, who covered the heads of 
our dear countr) men in the day of battle, infused 
courage, skill and activity into the minds of our 
warriors by sea and land, and granted us so many 
splendid victories over our enemies. This salvation 
appears still the more illustrious when we take into 
consideration, that by a strange and unexpected 
revolution in the affiiirs of Europe, the most war~ 



( 165 ) 

like and best disciplined troops of a powerful na- 
tion, highly exasperated, were sent against us, and 
vet were foiled and defeated in repeated actions, by 
inen lately raised and little accustomed to martiul 

operations." . , 

These are only a lew of the many mercies and 

favours conferred upon our country by a knul 

Providence, for which may we ever prove gratelui. 

As our limits will not permit us to enlarge wc 
will briefly exhibit a glimpse or specimen o the 
AmericanVictorieson Land, on the Lakes, and on 
the Ocean : particularly the gal ant defence o No - 
Orleans, of the frigate President, and the MCtorj 
o^i Lake Erie. It would take a folio volume to 
contain a de iled account of all the distinguished 
vktories that crowned the American ^^^^ 
W war • but as they are fresh in the memories ot 
my ead;rs In gener'al, and as a volunu- is .k.w pub 
Ikhimr with a detailed account thcreol, t u .11 e 
sSfl"o- for me to particularise ^^^^^^'^^ 
as^a specimen of the valour and patriotism of the 
American people. 

BATTLE OF NEW OULE ANS. 

enemy had been actmly ennplo^^d '" - ,^ '>,J ,,, 
parations Tor an attack un m - 
Lbour they had succecoed on Uk mgni o 



( 166 ) 

in getting their boats across from the lake to the 
river, by \vidtiiing and deepening the canal on 
which they had effected their disembarkation. It 
had not been in my power to impede these opera- 
tions by a general attack ; added to other reasons, 
the nature of the troops under my command, 
mostly militia, rendered it too hazardous to attempt 
extensive offensive movements in an open country, 
against a numerous and well disciplined army. 
Although my forces, as to number, had been in- 
creased by the arrival of the Kentucky division, 
my strength had received very little addition ; a 
small portion only of that detachment being pro- 
vided with arms. Compelled thus to wait the at- 
tack of the enemy, 1 took every measure to repel 
it when it should be made, and to defeat the object 
he had in view. General Morgan, with the Or- 
leans contingent, the Louisiana militia, and a strong 
detachment of the Kentucky troops, occupied an 
entrenched camp on the opposite side of the river, 
protected by strong batteries on the bank, erected 
and superintended by commodore Patterson. 

In my encampment every thing was ready for 
action, when, early on the rnorning of the 8th, the 
enemy, after throwing a heavy shower of bombs 
and Congreve rockets, advanced their columns on 
my right and left, to storm my entrenchments. I 
cannot speak sufficiently in praise of the firmness 
and deliberation with whicli my whole line re- 
ceived their approach — more could not have been 
expected from veterans inured to war. — For an 
hour, the fire of the small arms was as incessant 
and severe as can be imagined. The artillery, too, 
directed by officers who displayed equal skill and 
courage, did great execution. Yet the columns 



( 167 ) 

uF the enemy continued to advance with a firm- 
ness which reflects upon them the greatest credit. 
Twice the column which approached me on my 
left was repulsed by the troops of Ciciura! Carroll, 
those of general Coftcc, and a division of Kentucky 
militia, and twice they formed again and renewed 
the assault. At length, however, cut to pieces, 
they fled in confusion from the field, leaving it 
covered with their dead and wounded. The loss 
which the enemy sustained on this occasion, cannot 
be estimated at less than 1500 in killed, woundtd 
and prisoners. Upwards of 300 have already been 
delivered over for burial ; and my men are still 
engaged in picking them up within my lines and 
carrying them to the point where the enemy are to 
receive them. — This is in addition to the dead and 
wounded whom the enemy have been enabled to 
carry from the field, during and since the action, 
and to those who have since died of the wounds 
they received. We have taken about 500 prison- 
ers, upwards of three hundred of whom arc wound- 
ed, and a great part of them mortally. My loss 
has not exceeded, and I believe has not amounted 
to ten killed, and as many wounded. Tlie entire 
destruction of the enemy's army was now inevita- 
ble, had it not been for an unfortunate occurrence 
which at this moment took place on the other side 
of the river. Simultaneously with his advance up- 
on my lines, he had thrown over in his boats a 
considerable force to the other side of the river. 
These having landed, were hardy enougli to ad- 
vance against the works of General Morgan ; and, 
what is strange and difficult to account for, at the 
very moment when their entire discomfiture was 
looked for with a confidence approaching to cer- 



( i^s ) 

taint}', the Kentucky reinforcements, in whom so 
much reliance had been placed, ingloriously fled, 
drawing after them, by their example, the remain- 
der of the forces : and thus yielding to the enemy 
that most important position. The batteries which 
had rendered me, for many days, the most import- 
ant service, though bravely defended, were of course 
now abandoned ; not however until the guns had 
been spiked. 

This unfortunate rout had totally changed the as- 
pect of aftiiirs. The enemy now occupied a position 
from which they might annoy us without hazard, 
and by means of which they might have been en- 
abled to defeat, in a great measure, the efforts of 
our success on this side of the river. It became, 
therefore, an object of the first consequence to dis- 
lodge him as soon as possible. For this object all 
the means in my power, which I could with any 
safety use, were immediately put in preparation. 
Perhaps, howevtr, it was owing somewhat to ano- 
ther cause that I succeeded even beyond my expec- 
tations. In negociaiing the terms of a temporary 
suspension of hosiiiities to enable the enemy to bury 
their dead, and provide for their wounded, 1 had 
required certain j)ropositions to be acceded to as a 
basis, among which this was one — that although 
hostilities should cease on this side of the river until 
12 o'clock of this day, yet it was not to be under- 
stood that they should cease on the other side ; but 
that no reinforcements should be sent across by 
either army until the expiration of that day His ex- 
cellency major general Lambert beg.e:ed time to .con- 
sider of those propositions until lOo'clock of lo-day, 
and in the mean time re- crossed his troops. I nted 
not tell you with how much eagerness 1 immedi- 



( 169 ) 

ately regained possession of tlie position he had 
thus hastily quitted. 

The enemy havintr concentrated Ills forces, may 
agam attempt to drive me from m}- position by 
storm. Whenever he does, I have no doubt my 
men will act with their usual firmness, and sustain 
a character now become dear to them. 

I have the honour to be, with great respect ^ 
Your obedient servant, 

ANDREW JACKSON, 
Major General Commanding, 



Head Quarters, left bank of the Mississippi. 

Five miles below JVew Orleans, January 10, 1815. 

Sir — I HAVE the honour to make the following 
repvjrt of the killed, wounded and prisoners taken 
at the battle of Laron's plantation, on the left bank 
of the Mississippi, on the night of the third of De- 
cember, 1814, 7 miles below New Oilcans. 

Killed, left on the field of battle, - 100 
Wounded, left on the field of battle, 280 
Prisoners taken — 1 major, 2 lieuten- 
ants, 1 midshipman, 66 non-com- 
missioned officers and privates, 
making a grand total of 4(X). 

I have the honour to be, sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

A. P. HAYNE, Lisp. Gen. 
Major General Jndrew Jackson, commanding 
the Army of the Mississippi. 
P 



FURTHER PARTICULARS. 

rnbu of a Letter from a gentleman in N. Orleans, 
^•^ to a member of Congress. 

JVew Orleam, Januarn 13, 1815. 

Dear Sin~KNOWING the interest you must 
feel in the movements of the enemy '" *is qu W 
I will now cominue my account up to this date. 
In mv last I mentioned a reinforcement daily ex- 
pec7d by the enemy, which 1 now ""derstand wa« 
at that time actually received by them at Cat Island, 
having arrived ina fleet of twenty-one sail, said to 
be t"o!n Portsmouth.-This force is said to consist 
of 3000 men, and to be commanded by gen-^-""- 
bert, and probably forms the first brigade oi their pre- 
sent army On the 6th these troops were disenibark. 
ed at the Bayou Benvenu. The enemy had now 
remained quiet for three or four days, keeping us m 
a state of uneasy suspense and fearful uncertainty. 
During this ominous interval, part of their forces was 
cmnloved in preparing scaling ladders, and collect- 
ing faicincs (made of sugar canes) for their intend- 
ed assauk upon our lines, while others were diggmg 
a canal, communicating with that through which 
they entered, and extended to the levee, which, 
on the evening of the 7th, was cut through to ad- 
mit the river. Through this canal they floated or 
drao-eed 24 of their smaller boats, supposed to con- 
tain" 25 men each, and thus transported about 6Q0 
men to the opposite side of the river, some distance 
below tlie spot where we had constructed our bat- 
teries. These troops, under the command of colo- 



( 171 ) 

nel Thornton, were intended to make a dash at our 
batteries, and create a diversion on that side of ilic 
river, while the main attack was carried on this 
side. 

Accordingly, before day-light, on the niorninJV 
of the 8th, they silently drew out a large force to 
storm our liiiCs, their columns advancing uupcrceiv- 
ed in the obscurity of the morning, to within about 
half a mile of our camp, where they met, and 
d ove in our piquet guard. About da} -break they 
advanced with great vivacity to the entrenchnKuts, 
led gallantly on by their officers up to the very 
muzzles of our guns. Some of their men pene- 
trated into our lines, where they were immediately 
killed or taken prisoners; many fell mounting the 
breast works ; others upon the works themselves, 
and the ditch in front, was, in many places, literally 
filled with dead and wounded. The roar of ar- 
tillery from our lines was incessant, while an unre- 
mitted rolling fire was kept up from our muskets. 
The atmosphere was filled with sheets of fire, and 
volumes of smoke. For an hour and a quarter the 
enemy obstinately continued the assault ; fresh 
men constantly arriving to fill up their lines, thinned 
by our fire. Their determined perseverance and 
steady valour, were worthy a better cause ; nor did 
their troops faulter, until almost all the officers who 
led them on, had fallen. They then retreated, leav- 
ing from 1500 to 2000 in killed, wounded and pri- 
soners — in this number are included tliirty-nine of- 
ficers. On our side the loss was confined to about 
20 men, 7 only of whom were killed. Though 
our extreme right was attacked with great vivacity, 
yet the principal assault was made on our left, 
where General Coffee^s brigade of riflemen were 
stationed, and the carnage there was prodigious. 



( 172 ) 

Our men, covered by their breastworks, took steady 
?"d TeUberate aim,\nd almost every she to,d 
The enemy drew out eight regiments to the attacK, 
.^mated by the presence of their commander in 
chXPackenham, and led on by geiierals Gibbs 
andkean. The two former were killed, and the 
S general Kean was wounded, they acknowledge 
the loss of 3000 men in this conflict. 

An Interesting account of the Naval Conflict on 
LAKE ERIE. 

COMMODORE PERRY arrived at Erie in 
June with five small vessels, from Black Kock.— 
The Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost were 
cruising off Long Point to intercept J"m-he pass 
ed them in the night unperceived. The Lawrence 
and Niagara were then on the stocks— every exer. 
tion was made to expedite their buildmg and equip- 
ment, and early in August they were ready to sail. 
But it was necessary to pass the bar at the entrance 
of the harbour, over which there was but «x teet 
water, and the brigs drew nine. The British fleet 
appeared off the harbour, for the purpose of pre- 
venting our's from going to the lake f— 1 he means 
employed by our officers to take the brigs over the 
bar, was ingenious and deserve mention. Iwo 
large scows, 'fifty feet long, ten feet wide, a"d eight 
feet deep, were prepared— they were first filled with 
water and then floated along side one of the vessels 
in a parallel direction ; they were then secured by 
means of larsre pieces of hewn timber placed ath- 
wart ship, with both ends projecting from the port 



( 173 ) 

holes across the scows; the space between the tim- 
bers and the boat, being secured by otlicr i)icces 
properly arranged ; the water was then bailed liom 
the scows, thereby giving them an astonibhiug lift- 
ing po^ver. It was thus that the bar was passed, 
before the enemy had taken the proper steps to oj)- 
pose it. One obstacle was surniountccl, but the 
fleet was not in a condition to seek the cncniv at 
Maiden. There was not at this time more than' hall* 
sailors enough to man the fleet. However, a num- 
ber of Pennsylvania militia having volunteered their 
services, the Commodore made a short cruise off 
Long Point, more perhaps, for the purpose of ex- 
ercising his men, than seeking an enemy. 

About the last of Auurust Commodore Perrv left 
Erie, to co-operate with genenil Harrison in the re- 
duction of Maiden. He anchored ofl the mouth of 
Sandusky river, and had an interview with general 
Harrison, who furnished him with about seventy 
volunteers, principally Kentuckians, to serve as ma- 
rines on board the fleet. Capt. Dobben, in the 
Ohio, was ordered to return to Erie for provisions. 
The Amelia had been left there for want of men to 
man her. Exclusive of these he had nine sail, 
mounting in all flfty-four guns. The British fleet at 
Maiden, consisted of six sail, and mountii>g sixty- 
six guns. 

Commodore Perry appeared before Maiden, offer- 
ed battle, recoimoitered the enemy and retired to 
Put-in-Bay, diirty-five miles distant from liis anta- 
gonist. Both parties remained a few days ir.aetive; 
but their repose was that of the lion. 

On the morning of the 10th September, at sun< 
rise, the enemy were discovered bearing down from 
Maiden for the evident purpose of attacking our 
squadron, then at anchor in Put-in-Bay. Not a mo- 

P 2 



( 174 ) 

ment was to be lost. Our squadron immediately 
got under way, and stood out to meet the British 
fleet, which at this tune had the weather gage. At 
10 A. M. the wind shifted from S. W. to S. E. 
which brought our squadron to windward. The 
wind was light, the day beautiful — not a cloud ob- 
scured the horizon. The line was formed at 11, 
and Commodore Perry caused an elegant flag, which 
he had privately prepared, to be hoisted at the mast 
head of the Lawrence ; on this flag was painted, in 
characters legible to the whole fleet, the dying words 
of the immortal LAWRENciz : — ''DON'T GIVE 
UP THE SHIP. " Its effect is not to be described 
— every heart was electrified — the crews cheered — 
the exhilarating can was passed. Both fleets appear- 
ed eager for the conflict, on the result of which so 
much depended. At 15 minutes before 12, the De- 
troit, the head- most ship of the enemy, opened upon 
the Lawrence, which for ten minutes, was obliged 
to sustain a well directed and heavy fire, from the 
enemy's two large ships, without being able to re- 
turn it with carronades ; at five minutes before 12 
-the Lawrence 0[>ened upon the enemy — the other 
vessels was ordered to support her, but the wind was 
at this time too light to enable them to come up. 
Every brace and bowline of the Lawrence being 
soon shot away, she became unmanageable, and in 
this situation she sustained the action upwards of 
two hours, within canister distance, until every gun 
was rendered useless, and but a small part of her 
crew left unhurt upon deck. 

At half past two the wind increased and enabled 
the Niagara to come into close action — the erun- 



boats took a nearer position. Commodore Per- 
ry left his ship in charge of Lt. Yarnel, and went 
on board the Niagara. Just as he reached th^it 



( 175 ) 

vessel, the flag of the Lawrence came down ; the 
crisis had arrived. Capt. EUiot at this moment an- 
ticipated the wishes of the commodore, by volun- 
teering his services to bring the schooners iiito close 
action. 

At forty-five minutes past two the signal was 
made for close action. The Niagara l^eing little in- 
jured, and her crew fresh, the commodore deter- 
mined to pass through the enemy's line ; he accord- 
ingly bore up and passed aliead of the Detroit, 
Queen Charlotte, and Lady Prevost, pouring a tcr- 
rible raking fire into them from the starboard guns, 
and on the Chippeway and Little Belt, from the lar- 
board side, at half pistol shot distance. The small 
vessels at this time having got within grape and 
canister distance, kept up a well directed and de- 
structive fire. The action now raged with the, great- 
est fury — the Queen Charlotte having lost her com- 
mander and several of her principal officers, in a 
moment of confusion got foul of the Detroit— in this 
situation the enemy in their turn had to sustain a 
tremendous fire without the power of returning it 
with much effect; the carnage was horrible- the 
flags of the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and Lady 
Prevost, were struck in rapid succession. The brig 
Hunter, and schooner Chipjx^way, ^^ere scK)n com- 
pelled to follow the example. The Little Belt at- 
tempted to escape to Maiden, but she wis i ur.-.ued 
by two of the gun-boats and surrendered about three 
miles distant from the scene of action. 

The writer of this account, in company with fiy« 
others, arrived at the head of Put-in-Bay island, on 
the evening of the 9th, and had a view of the action 
at the distance of only ten miles. The spectacle was 
truly grand and awful. The firing was incessant for 
tlie space of three hours, and continued at short i»- 



( 176 ) 

tervals forty-five minutes longer. In less tlian one 
hour after the battle began, most of the vessels of 
both fleets were enveloped in a cloud of smoke, 
which rendered the issue of the action uncertain, till 
the next morning, when we visited the fleet m the 
harbour on the opposite side of the island. Ihe 
reader will easily judge of our solicitude to learn 
the result. There is no sentiment more paintul 
than suspense, when it is excited by the uncertain 
issue of an event like this. ^ x,r . .. 

If the wind had continued at S. W. it was the 
intention of Admiral Barclay to have boarded our 
squadron ; for this purpose he had taken on board 
his fleet about two hundred of the famous 41st re- 
eiment ; they acted as marines and fought bravely, 
but nearly two-thirds of them were either killed or 

wounded. , . ,. . 

The carnage on board the prizes was proaigious 
—they must have lost two hundred in killed be- 
sides wounded. The sides of the Detroit and Queen 
Charlotte were shattered from bow to stern ; there 
was searcely room to place one's hand on their lar- 
board sides without touching the impression ot a 
shot -a s-reat many balls, canister and grape, were 
found lodged in their bulwarks, which were too 
thick to be peneti'ated by our carronades unless 
within pistol shot distance. Their masts were so 
much shattered that they fell overboard soon alter 
they eot into the bay. 

The loss of the Americans was severe, particu- 
larly on board the Lawrence. When her flag was 
struck she had but nine men fit for duty remaining 
on deck. Her sides were completely riddled by the 
shot from the long guns of the British ships. Her 
deck the morning after the conflict, when 1 tirst 
went on board, exhibited a scene that defies descnp- 



( 177 ) 

tion — for it was literally covered with blood, which 
still adhered to the plank in clots — brains, hair and 
fragments of bones were still sticking to the rigging 
and sides. The surgeons were still busy with tl^ 
wounded — enough ! horror appalled my senses. 

Among the wounded were several brave fellows, 
each of whom had lost a leg or an arm — they ap- 
peared cheerful and expressed a hoiK" that they had 
done their duty. Rome and Sparta would have been 
proud of these heroes. 

It would be invidious to particularize instances 
of individual merit, where every one so nobly per« 
formed his part. Of the nine seamen remaining un- 
hurt at the time the Lawrence struck her flag, five 
were imnediately promoted for their unshaken firm- 
ness in such a trying situation. The most of these 
had been in the actions with the Gurriere and Java. 

Every ofliicer of the La^vrence, except the com- 
modore and his little brother, a promising youth, 
13 years old, were either killed or wounded. 

The efficacy of the gun-boats was fully proved in 
this action, and the sterns of all the prizes l)car am- 
ple testimony of the fact. They took raking posi- 
tions and galled the enemy severely. The L .dy 
Prevost lost twelve men before either of the brigs 
fired on her. Their fire was quick and precise. Let 
us hear the enemy. The general order of adjutant 
general Baynes, contains the following words : '* His 
(Perry's) numerous gun boats, (four,) which had 
proved the greatest annoyance during the action, 
were all uninjured." 

The undaunted bravery of Admiral Barclay en- 
titled him to a better fate ; to the loss of tlie day 
was superadded grievous and dangerous wounds. 
He had before lost an arm ; it was now his hard for- 
tune to lose the use of the other, by a shot wluch 



( 178 ) 

carried away the blade of the right shoulder; a canis- 
ter shot made a violent contusion in his hip ; his 
wounds were for some days considered mortal. 
Every possible attention was paid to his situation. 
When com. Perry sailed for Buffaloe, he was so far 
recovered that he took passage on board our fleet. 
The fleet touched at Erie. The citizens saw the af- 
fecting spectacle of Harrison and Perry leading the 
wounded British Hero, still unable to walk without 
help, from the beach to their lodgings. 

On board of the Detroit, twenty-four hours after 
her surrender, were found snugly stowed away in 
the hold, two Indian Chiefs, who had the courage to 
go on board at Maiden, for the purpose of actmg as 
sharp shooters to kill our officers. One had the 
courage to ascend into the round top and discharged 
his piece, but the whizzing of shot, splinters, and 
bits of rigging, soon made the place too warm for 
him— he descended faster than he went up ; at the 
moment he reached the deck, the fragments of a 
seaman's head struck his comrade's face, and cover- 
cd it with blood and brains. He vociferated the 
savage interjection " quoth P' and both sought safe. 

ty below. . , , 

The British officers had domesticated a bear at 

Maiden. Bruin accompanied his comrades to bat- 

tie— was on the deck of the Detroit during the en- 

eag-ement, and escaped unhurt. 

The killed of both fleets were thrown overboard 

as fast as they fell. Several were washed ashore upon 

the island and the main during the gales that sue- 

ceeded the action. 

Com. Perry treated the prisoners with humanity 

and indulgence ; several Canadians having wives at 

Maiden, were permitted to visit their families on 

parole. 



( 179 ) 

The British were superior in the length and num. 
her of their guns, as well as in the number of men. 
The American fleet was manned with a motley set 
of beings, Europeans, Africans, Americans from 
every part of the United States. Full one fourth 
were blacks. I saw one Russian, who could not 
speak a word of English. They were brave — and 
who could be otherwise under the comnumd of 
Perry? 

STATEMENT OF THE FORCE OF THE BRITISH SQIJADRON. 

Ship Detroit 19 guns 1 on pivot and 2 howilicrs. 

Queen Charlotte 17 do. 1 do. 

Schr. Lady Prevost 13 do. I do. 

10 do. 
3 do. 
1 do. and 2 swivels. 



Brig Hunter 
Sloop Little Belt 
Schr. Chippeway 



63 guns. 



STATEMENT OF THE FORCE OF THE UNITED STATES* 
SQUADRON. 



Brig Lawrence 
Niagara 
Caladonia 

Schr. Ariel 
Scorpion 
Somers 

Sloop Trippe 

Schr. Tigress 
Porcupine 



20 guns 

20 do. 

3 do. 

4 do. (Iburst early in the action) 
2 do. 

2 do. and 2 swivels. 

1 do. 

1 do. 

1 do. 

54 guns. 



( 180 ) 
VICTORY BY LAND AND WATER. 



DEFEAT OF THE BRITISH ARMY AT PLATTSBURG. 

Copy of a letter from Gen, Macomb to his Father 
in Albany y dated 

Fort Moreau, September 12th, 1814. 

My dear Father,— The British army under Sir 
George Prevost, consisting of four brigades, each 
commanded by a major-general of experience— a 
light corps and squadron of dragoons, and an nn- 
mense train of artillery, invested us for six days, 
during which period our troops in small parties 
skirmished with them and took prisoners and killed 
many. Yesterday they opened their batteries on us 
with bombs, 24 prs. howitzers and rockets ; but we 
silenced the whole by six in the evening. 

Their fleet attacked ours at the same tmie, and 
after an engagement of two hours their large vessels 
all struck to our gallant commodore. The gallies 
ran off. The British commodore was slain, and the 
killed and wounded is numerous. Our loss is one 
lieutenant, and 15 killed, and one lieutenant, and 
30 men wounded. 

The British army raised the sieg-e last night or 
rather this mornine:, at 2 o'clock ; and are now m 
full retreat, leaving on the field their wounded and 
sick. Sir George has requested me to treat them 
with humanity and kindness. Our whole force does 
not exceed 1500 effectives. 

I have sent the militia and my light troops m 
pursuit— they are constantly taking prisoners and 
sending in deserters — I am in hopes of destro) ing 
ftt least one third of the British army. 1 am m 



perfect health. My poor troops riic the remnant ol 
Gen. Izard's army, invalids and convalescents, ex- 
cept about 600 men. 

/ am ill Jiaste^ bV. 

ALEXANDER MACOMB. 



Extract to the Editor of the Aurora, dated 

Eiirlington, September 12, 18 Ik 
" Yesterday, after an action of two hours, 5 mi- 
nutes, Macdonough beat and cajnurcd the British 
fleet, of a much superior force, on Lake Champlain 
— and this morning, at 2 o'clock, sir George Prc- 
vost raised the siege and al^andoned the field, leav- 
ing his dead and wounded." 



Capture of the Frigate Presuknt. 

OF all our conflicts on the ocean in the late war, 
I consider that in which this frigate was tiiken as 
the most heroic on the part of Commodore Decatur. 
Ahhough the li/in^ English journals UMi/ and tm- 
bkishinghj assert \hat the President was captured 
by the Endvmion ; and the merchants of Bcnnu- 
da, presented captain Hope, of the above Ir.gate, 
with a service of silver pLtc for so doing, ^^ hich 
he had the meanness to accept. Notwithstanding 
these mental and vocal lies it is a sttibborn ac^ 
that the Endvmion ^^^.s sdenced, dismantled, and 
fairlu BEATEN by the PresKlent. 
•^ '^Vith the exception of the ahen encmjes 
amongst us, who have been natnrahzed, in order 
He^spies: all persons heard o. the eve,U w.d^ 
mingled emotions of pnde and rcgret-pude that 

'if' 



( 182 ) 

tlie honour of our flag was gloriously sustained, 
and thirt the flag was not levelled to an equal foe—* 
regret that such skill and courage had such fearful 
odds to contend against, and that so niany brave 
fellows fell in such an unequal conflict. 

This is the third frigate that the enemy have ta- 
ken from us — the Chesapeake by a vessel of su- 
perior force; the Essex by two vessels carrying 
twice as many guns as she did ; and the President 
by three frigates and a 74 — all of them after long 
and bloody actions. 

We, on the other hand, have captured, three 
frigates, not with squadrons, but with single ships, 
of nearly, if not quite equal force ; the Giierrierey 
in a few minutes, and the Macedonian, in a few 
minutes, and the Java, after an action comparative- 
ly short, when contrasted with those in which the 
enemy succeeded. 

The honour of our flag, and our naval superiori- 
ty, ship to ship, far from" being sullied or doubted, 
are in this last instance exalted and confessed ; 
Europe will hear with astonishment, that a single 
frigate, just out of port, silenced one frigate, and 
was in the act of silencing the second, when the 
broadsides of another frigate and a 74 were found 
necessary in order to capture her. 

It would have been expecting too much, if one 
of the frigates, the largest, had claimed and taken 
the honour of sihgle combat — but if it had done 
so, and had triumphed, the victory would have 
been a proud one ; but very different is the event, 
it is such a tiiumph as brutal force may at any time 
enjoy over a comparatively weak and unprepared 
antagonist.'* 



OFFICIAL. 

Copy of a letter from Commodore Decatur, to tfw 
Secretary of the J^'avy, dated. 

H. B. J\[. ship Endi/iniorjf at sea, JmnuiTy IM, If^li 

Sir, — THE painful duty of detailing to you the 
particular causes which preceded and kd to the c.»p- 
ture of the late United States' frii^ate President, by 
a squadron of his B. Majesty's ships, (as j)er mar- 
gin,) has devolved upon me. In my communica- 
tion of the 14th I made known to you my intention 
of proceedini^ to sea on that evening. Owing to 
some mistake of the pilots, the ship in going out 
grounded on the bar, where slie continued to strike 
heavily for an hour and a half; althougli she had 
broken several of her rudder-braces, and had receiv- 
ed such other material injury as to render her return 
into port desirable, I was unable to do so from the 
strong westerly wind which was then blowing. It 
being now high water, it became necessary to force 
her over the bar before the tide fell, in this we sue- 
ceeded by ten o'clock, when we shaped our course 
along the shore of Long Island for 50 miles, and 
then steered S. E. by E. At 5 o'clock, three ships 
were discovered ahead ; we immediately hauled \\\> 
the ship and passed two miles to the northward of 
them. At day-light we discovered four ships in 
chase, one on each quarter, and t^\o asttrn, the 
leading ship of the enemy a razee— he commenced 
a fire upon us, but without effect. At meridian 
the wind became light and baffling, we had n^rt^as- 
ed our distance from the razee, but the next ship 



( 184 ) 

astern, which was also a large ship, had gained 
and continued to gain upon us considerably ; we 
immediately occupied all hands to lighten ship, 
by starting water, cutting away the anchors, throw- 
ing o\erboard provisions, cables, spars, boats, and 
every article that could be got at, keeping the sails 
wet from the royals down. At 3 we had the wind 
fjuite light ; the enemy who had now been joined 
by a brig, had a strong breeze and were coming 
up with us rapidly. The Endymion (mounting 
iifty guns, twenty-four pounders on the main 
deck) had now approached us within gun-shot, 
and had commenced a lire with her bow guns, 
which we returned from our stern. At 5 o'clock 
she had obtained a position on our starboard quar- 
ter, within half point blank shot, on which nei- 
ther our stern nor quarter guns would bear ; we 
were now steering E. by N. the wind N. W. I 
remained with her in this position for half an hour, 
in ihe hope that she would close w^ith us on our 
broadside, in W'hich case I had prepared my crew to 
board, but from his continuing to yaw his ship 
to maintain his position, it became evident that 
to close was not his intention. — Every fire now 
cut some of our sails or riQ:Q:in2:. To have con- 
tinucd our course under these circumstances, 
would have been placing it in his power to crip- 
ple us, without being subject to injury himself, 
and to have hauled up more to the northward to 
bring our stern guns to bear, would have exposed 
us to his raking fire. It was now dusk, when I de- 
termined to alter my course south, for the pur- 
pose of bringing the enemy abeam, and although 
their ships astern were drawing up fast, I felt satis- 
fied 1 should be enabled to throw him out of 
the combat before they could come up, and was 



I 1B5 ) 

not without hopes if the nii^ht proved dark, (of 
which there was every appearance) that I mii^ht 
still be enabled to eHect my escape. Our oppo- 
nent kept off at the same instant we did, and our 
fire commenced at the same time. — We continu- 
ed engaged, steering south with steering sails set, 
two hours and a half, when we completely suc- 
ceeded in dismantling: her. Previouslv to her 
dropping entirely out of the action, there were in- 
tervals of minutes when the ships were broadside 
and broadside, in which she did not fire a gun. 
At this period (half past 8 o'clock) although dark, 
the other sliips of the squadron were in siglu, and 
almost within gun-shot. We were of course 
compelled to abandon her. In resuming our for- 
mer course for the purpose of avoiding the scjuad- 
ron, we were compelled to present our stern to our 
antagonist ; but such was his state, thougli we 
were thus exposed and within range of his guns 
for half an hour, that he did not -avail himscH" of 
this favourable opportunity of raking us. We 
continued this course until eleven o'clock, when 
two fresh ships of the enemy (the Pomona and 
Tenedos) had come up. The Pomona had open- 
ed her fire on the larboard bow, within musket- 
shot ; the other about two cables length astern, ta- 
king a raking position on our quarter; and the 
rest, (with the exception of the Kndymion) with- 
in gun shot. Thus situated, with about one fifih 
of my crew killed and wounded, my ship crippkd, 
and a more than fourfold force opposed to ine< 
without a chance of escape left, I deemed it my 
duty to surrender. 

It is with emotions of pride I fx\ir testimony 
of the gallantry and steadiness of every officer and 
man 1 hud the honour to command on tliis occa*- 



( 18G ) 

sioii, and 1 Tcel satisfied that the fact of their hav- 
ing beaten a force equal to themselves, in the pre- 
sence and almost under the guns of so vastly a su- 
perior force, when too, it was almost self-evident, 
that whatever their exertions might be, they must 
ultimately be captured, will be taken as evidence 
of w hat they would have performed, bad the force 
opposed to them been in any degree equal. 

It is with extreme pain I have to inform you that 
lieutenants Babbit, Hamilton, and Howell fell in the 
action. They have left no officers of superior merit 
behind them. 

If, sir, the issue of this affair had been fortunate, 
I should have felt it my duty to have recommended 
to \our attention lieutenants Shubrick and Gal- 
lagher. They maintained throughout the day the 
reputation they had acquired in former actions. 

Lieut. Twiggs, of the marines, displayed great 
zeal, his men were well supplied and their fire in- 
comparable, so long as the enemy continued within 
musket range. 

Midshipman Randolph, who had charge of the 
forecastle division, managed it to my entire satis- 
faction. 

From Mr. Robinson who was serving as a volun- 
teer, I received essential aid, particularly after I was 
deprived of the services of the master, and the severe 
loss I had sustained in my officers on the quarter- 
deck. 

Of our loss in killed and wounded, I am unable 
at present to give you a correct statement ; the at« 
tention of the surgeon being so entirely occupied 
with ihe wounded, that he was unable to make 
out a correct return when I left the President, nor 
shall 1 be able to make it until our arrival in port 
we having parted company with the squadron yes- 
terday. The enclosed list, with the exception I 



( 187 ) ^ 

fear of its being short of the number will l)e found 
correct. 

For twenty-four hours after the action it was 
nearly calm, and the squadron were occupied in re- 
pairin.^ the crippled ships. Such of the crew of the 
President as were not badly wounded, were put on 
board the different ships : mybeli' and a part of my 
crew WTre put on board this ship. On the ITtfi we 
had a gale from the eastward, when this ship lost 
her bowsprit, tore and mainmasts, and mlzen top- 
mast, all of which were badly wounded, and was in 
consequence of her disabled condition, oblii^ed to 
throw overboard all of her uj:)per deck guns ; her 
loss in killed and wounded must have been very 
great. I have not been able to ascertain the extent. 
Ten were buried after I came on board, (36 hours 
after the action ;) the badly wounded, such as are 
obliged to keep the.r cots, occupy the starboard side 
of the gun-deck, from the cabin bulk head to the 
inainmast. From the crippled state of the Presi- 
dent's spars, 1 feel satisfied she could not ha\e sa- 
ved her masts, and 1 feci serious apprehensions for 
the safety of our wounded left on board. 

It is due to captain Hope to state, that everi^ at- 
tention has been paid by him to myself and officers 
that have been placed on board his ship, tliat deli- 
cacy and humanity could dictiite. 

I have the honour to be with much respect, sir, 
your obedient servant, 

STEPHEN DECATUR. 

The Hon Benjamin W. Crowninahidd, 
Sci^retary of the Mzvy. 

British Squadron referred to in the l.etttr. 

Majestic, razee; Endymion, Foiugd€, TcaeUos, Dispatch, briir 



* ( 188 ) 

Copy of a letter from Com. Alexander Murray, presi- 
dent of a court of inquiry, lately held at New-York, to in- 
vestigate the causes of the capture of the United States' 
frigate President, to the secretary of the navy, dated, 

NeHi)-York, AtiriU 17, 1815. 

« Sir, — I herewith transmit to you the result of 
the court of inquiry, respecting the capture of the 
frigate President, with the opinion of the court. 

" We have been more minute in our investiga- 
tion than might at first view have been deemed ne- 
cessarv ; but as there has been a diversity of opi- 
nions prevailing among the British commanders, 



NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 

I feel inclined to give a particular account of the above 
conflict, as the foul and false tory journals of England pub- 
lish to the world that the President was fairly captured by 
the Endymion, than which a more impudent falsehood can- 
not be propagated I have copies of our other most dis- 
tinguished naval engagements, but postpone publishing 
them to miike room lor Mr. Cobbett's excellent letters, i 
feel a peculiar predilection for this gentleman (to whom I 
presented for publication the first piece 1 ever wrote for 
the press, seventeen years ago) because I know of no other 
journalist in all Europe who is either able or willing to 
vindicate injured innocence, and advocate the rights of 
man. Surely the whig citizens of London should collect 
among themselves and refund to this injured patriot the 
one thousand pounds he paid the king for declaring the 
truth Who can view with his intellectual eyes the debased 
and degraded state of the population of all Europe, with- 
out political, social, or even intellectual liberty or rights, 
and not venerate the man who endeavours to ameliorate 
the condition of perishing old age and starving infancy with 
the halter dangling before his eyes, held by the spirit of 
despotism in one hand, while in the other glitters the sword 
of vengeance, with the word treason written thereon. Many 
of our republican champions in the United States would 
lie dormant in England under similar di&couragemeniSo 



( 189 ) 

concerned in her capture, it was desirahle irr oxir 
view, to lay before the w orld in the most correct 
manner, every circumstance that led to that events 



Iiidct d both England and America have cause to thank 
Mr. Cobbett, as also Mi Carey, author of the ** Olive 
Branch,'* who, under God, were lh« primary means of 
bringjint^ the late war to a sp* cdy conclusion Mr. Cob- 
bett clearly sees the wretched slavery oi the Europeans,, 
vvhi.e the knot of imperial, royal, and rit^ht lionMuruble 
villains at the Vienna congress are praiin,^ about the liber- 
ty of Europe, and the same moment are sharint^ the plun- 
der thereof, and dividing the people amont^ ilicm like a 
herd of swine. And there are tory villains in the United 
States will reverberate the p^olden lies of these royal 
wretches. Their tyranny and duplicity is enough to force 
a curse from holiness itself. I have seen with my own 
eyes the human species in Prussia, Russia, Ireland, and 
Spain, degraded almost as much as in Africa or the West- 
Indies, and this Mr. Cobbett is not afraid to testify. 

" The spirit of rapacity and plunder which prevailed in 
the dark ages of barbarism in the 1 1th century, is ab much 
the spirit of the governments of the coalesced powers at 
this day. 

" We have seen it in the repeated plunder and partition 
of Poland — in the war maintained for 25 years against 
France — and recently soberly debated at Vienna. 

*' The Germans, whether it be under the dominion of 
Austria or Prussia, are as much slaves as the poi tuj<uese, 
or Spaniards, or the negroes of Damahoy or Mozambique ; 
or as the negroes on the English plantations of Jamaica 
and Barbadoes. 

«' The Russians have literally no fwople : the men and 
women are like the oxen and hogs of the plantation, a part 
of the live stock; for example, when the empress Catha- 
rine rewarded the service of her male firoxtitutes, it was 
by gifts of large estates; thus five brothers of the name of 
Or/c^, received as presents seventeen millions of roubles 
in money (a rouble is about half a dollar) and 45,000 /ifa- 
sants. that is, cerfs, slaves, white netrrocs. Another man- 
ivhore of the name of Vassilitchikoff. for 22 mouths servi- 
ces, received 7000 Russians, white negroes. 



( 190 ) 

which has afforded another high proof of American 
heroism, and so highly honourable to her com- 
mander, officers and crew, that every American citi. 
zen must feel a pride in knowing that our flag has 
been so nobly defended." 

The minutes of the court having been read and 
approved, the court was cleared, and, after due de- 
liberation, resolved to express the sentiments and 
opinions of the members, on the matters submitted 
to them as follows : 

In execution of the orders of the honourable the 
secretary of the navy, we have (with the exception 
of two very young midshipmen) examined every 
officer belonging to the President, within the reach 
of the court, who survived the late glorious contest 
between the frigate President and a squadron of his 
Britannic Majesty. 

We are of opinion that the primary cause of 
the loss of the President, was her running on the 
bar as she was leaving this port* The violence 
and continuance of the shocks she received for an 
hour and a half or more, considering that she was 
laden with stores and provisions for a very long 
cruize, could not but have injured her greatly, and 
must have impeded her sailing. Her hogged and 
twisted appearance after she arrived at Bermuda, 
must have been the effects of this unfortunate acci- 
dent. — We are convinced that it was owing to this 
thiit the enemy were able to overtake her. 

The striking of the President on the bar cannot 
be imputed to the fault of any officer who was at- 
tached to her ; on the contrary, we think every pos- 
sible precaution was taken, and the utmost exertions 
were used by her commander and officers, to ensure 
her safe passage over the bar, and to relieve her af- 
ter she had struck. The accident was occasioned 



( 191 ) 

by some mistake in placing tlic boats, wlilch were 
to serve as beacons for the President, tlncniph a 
channel always dangerous lor a vessel oi her 
draught, but particularly so at such a time ;.s she 
was obliged to select for passing it, when the land 
marks could not be distinguished. 

From the time diat the superiority of the ene- 
my's force was ascertained, and it became the du- 
ty of the President to evade it, we are convinced 
that the most proper measures ^vere pursued, and 
that she made every possible effort to escape. No 
means, in our opinion, were so likely to Ix- attend- 
ed with success, as those which were adopted by 
commodore Decatur. Any suggestions that dif- 
ferent measures would have been more proper, or 
more likely to accomplish the object, \vc think, 
are without foundation, and may be the result of 
ignorance, or the dictates of a culpable ambition, 
or of envy. 

We consider the management of the President 
from the time the chase commenced till her surren- 
der, as the highest evidence of the experience, skill, 
and resources of her commander, and of the ability 
and seamanship of her officers and crew. We fear 
that we cannot express in a manner that will do jus- 
tice to our feelings, our admiration of the conduct 
of commodore Decatur, and his officers and crew, 
while engaged with tl>e enem) , threatened with a 
force so superior, possessing advantages which must 
have appeared to render all opposition unavailing, 
otherwise than as it might affect the honour of our 
navy, and the character of our seamen. TIk y Ibught 
|with a spirit which no prospect of success could 
have heightened, and, if victory had met its com- 
mon reward, tlie Endymion's name would h;ivc 
been added to our lists of naval conqucbt^ In tiiis 



( 192 ) 

unetiual conflict the enemy gained a ship, but the 
vicu'ry was ours. When the President was ob hged 
to leiive the Endymion to avoid the other ships, 
vhich were fast coming up, the Endynuon was 
subdued ; and if her friends had not been at haiid 
to rescue htr, she was so entirely disabled that she 
soon must have struck her flag. A prooi of this is 
that she made no attempt to pursue the President 
or to annoy her by a single shot while the i resi- 
dent was within her reach, when, with the hope ot 
escape from >he overwhelming force which was 
nearly upon her, the President presented her s era 
to the Endymion's broadside. A further proof that 
the Endvmion was conquered is, the shattered con- 
dition in' which she appeared, while the President 
in die contest with her had sustamed but little in- 
iurv ; and the foct that the Endymion did not jom 
ihe squadron till many hours after die President 
had been surrounded by the other lour enemy s 
ships, and had surrendered to them, is strong cor- , 
roborative evidence of the disabled state m which 
the President left the Endymion. 

We think it due to commodore Decatur ana 
Ills heroic officers and crew, to notice the propo- 
sition he made to board the Endymion, when he 
found she was coming up, and the manner m which 
this proposition was received by his gallant crew. 
Such a design, at such a time, could only have 
been conceived by a soul without fear, and appro- 
ved with enthusiastic cheerings by men regardless 
of danger. Had not the enemy perceived the at- 
tempt, 'and availed himself of the power he had in^ 
the carlv part of the action to shun the approach 
of the President, the American stars might now 
be shininsr on the Endymion. In the subsequent 
part of tlie cngugemeut the enemy's squadron was 



( 193 ) 

too near to permit the execution of this design, and 
the disabled state of the Endymion ^vould Iiavc 
frustrated the principal object which commodore 
Decatur had in making so bold an attempt, which 
was to avail himself of the Endymion^ superior 
sailing to escape with his crew from his pursuers. 

We conclude by expressing our opinion that 
commodore Decatur, as well during the chase as 
through his contest with the enemy, evinced great 
judgment and skill, perfect coolness, the most de- 
termined resolution and heroic courage. That his 
conduct, and the conduct of his officers and crew, is 
highly honourable to them, and to the American na- 
vy, and deserves the warmest gratitude of their 
country. That they did not give up their ship tilf 
she was surrounded and overpowered b}- a force so 
superior that further resistance would have been un- 
justifiable and a useless sacrifice of the lives of brave 
men. 

The order of the secretary of the navy requires us 
to express an opinion as to the conduct of the offi- 
cers and crew of the President after tlie capture. 
The testimony of all the witnesses concurs in ena- 
bling us to give it our decided approbation. 
£1/ the Court, 

ALEX. MURRAY, Prcs't, 

True copy from the original. 
Cadwalader D. Golden, 

Judge Advocate, 
Navy Department, Jpril 20, 1815. 

APPROVED 

1^^W. CROWNIXSHIELD. 



JR 



OFFICIAL ACCOUNTfe 

OF A FEW OF 

THE AIVIERICAN VICTORIES, 

ON THE OCEAN, 

DURING THE LATE WAR. 



United States' Frigate Constitution, off Boston Light. 

August SO, 1812. 

Sir, 

I have the honour to inform you that on the 
19th instant, at 2, P. M. being in latitude 41 deg. 
41 min. and longitude 5B deg. 48 min. with the 
Constitution under my command, a sail was discov- 
ered from the mast-head, beari ng E. by S. or E. 
S. E. but at such a distance we could not tell what 
she was. All sail was instantly made in chase, and 
soon found w^e came up with her. At 3. P. M, 
could plainly see that she was a ship on the star- 
board tack under easy sail, close on a wind — at half 
past 3, P. M. made her out to be a frigate — contin- 
ued the chase until we were within about three 
miles, when I ordered the light sails taken in, the 
courses hauled up, and the ship cleared for action. 
At this time the chase had backed her main-top- 
sail, waiting for us to come down. As soon as the 
Constitution was ready for action, I bore down with 
an intention to bring him to close action immediate- 
ly : but on our coming within gun shot, she gave us 
a broadside, and filled away and wore, scivins: us a 
broadside on the other tack, but without effect, her 
shot falling short. She continued wearing and 
manoeuvring for about three quarters of an hour, to 



( 195 

get a raking position— but finding she could not, shr 
bore up and run under her top-sails and jib, \\iili tht 
wind on the quarter. I immediately made sail to 
bring the ship up uith her, and at five minutes be- 
fore 6, P. M. being along side within lialf pistol 
shot, we commenced a heavy fire from all cnu' guns, 
double-shotted with round and grape, and so well 
directed were they, and so warmly kept up, that in 
16 minutes her mizen-mast went by the board, and 
his main.yard in the slings, and the hull, rigging, and 
sails, very much torn to pieces. The fire Was kepi 
up with equal warmth for 15 minutes longer, when 
his main-mast and fore-mast went, taking v.ith them 
every spar, excepting the bowsprit ; on seeing this 
we ceased firing ; so that in thirt}- minutes after wc 
got fairly along side of the enemy, sIk- suiRnckrcd, 
and had not a spar standing, and her hull below and 
above water so shattered, that a few more broadsides 
must have carried her down. 

After informing that so fine a ship as the Gucr- 
riere, commanded by an able and experienced officer, 
had been totally dismasted and otherwise cut to i)ie- 
ces, so as to make her not worth towing into port, in 
the short space of 30 minutes, you can ha\c no doubi 
of the gallantry and good conduct of the ofiicers and 
ship's company I have the honour to eonunand. Ii 
only remains, therefore, for me to assure you, that 
they all fought with great bravery ; and it gives me 
great pleasure to say, that from the smallest boy in 
the ship, to the oldest seaman, not a look of fear was 
seen. They all went into action giving three 
cheers, and requesting to be laid close alongside 
the enemy. 

Enclosed I have the honour to send you a list oi li.e 
killed and wounded on board the Constitution, and 
a report of the damages slie sustained — also a list of 



( 196 ) 

killed and wounded on board the enemy, with his 
quarter bill, &c. I have the honour to be, with very 
great respect, sir, your obedient servant, 
^ ISAAC HULL. 

The Hon. Paid Hamilton^ £s?c. %^c. 



Copy of a letter from Captain Jones, late ef the 
United States'* Sloop of War the Wasp, to the 
Secretary of the Navy, dated 

New^York, Nov. 24, 1812. 

Sir, 

I here avail myself of the first opportunity of 
informing you of the occurrences of our cruize 
which terminated in the capture of the Wasp on the 
18th of October, by the Poictiers of seventy-four 
guns, while a wreck from the damages received in 
an engagement with the British sloop of war Frolic 
of twenty -two guns; sixteen of them thirty-two 
pound carronades, and four twelve pounders on the 
main-deck, and two twelve pounders, carronades, 
on the top-gallant-fore-castle, making her superior 
to us by four twelve pounders. The Frolic had 
struck to us, and was taken possession of, about 
two hours before our surrendering to the Poic- 
tiers. 

We had left the Delaware on the 13th. The 16th 
had a heavy gale, in which we lost our jib-boom 
and two men. Half past eleven on the night of the 
17th, in the latitude of 37 degrees N. and longitude 
65 degrees W. we saw several sail, two of them ap- 
pearing very large ; we stood from them for some 
time, then shortened sail and steered the remainder 
of the night the course we had perceived them on. 
At day light on Sunday, the 18th, we saw them 



( 1^^7 ) 

ahead — gave chase, and soon discovered ihtni to be 
a convoy of six sail, under the protection of a sloop 
of war, four of them large ships mounting from six- 
teen to eighteen guns. At thirty-two minutes past 
eleven, A. M. wc engaged tlie sloop of ^\'ar, having 
first received her lire, at the distance of fifty or 
sixty yards, which space we gradually lessened un- 
til we laid her on board, after a well supported fire 
of forty-three minutes ; and although so near, while 
loading the last broadside, that our rammers were 
shoved against the side of the enemy, our men ex- 
hibited the same alacrity which thc}- had done dur- 
ing the whole of the action. They immcdiately 
surrendered upon our gaining their forecastle, so 
that no loss was sustained on either side after board- 
ing. 

Our main-top-mast was shot away between ibur 
and five minutes from the commencement of the 
firing; and falling, together w^ith the main-top-sail 
yard, across the larboard fore and ibre-top-sail bra- 
ces, rendered our head-yards unmanageable the re- 
mainder of the action. At eight minutes the gait 

.and mizen-top-gallant-mast came down, and al 
twenty minutes from the commencement of the ac- 

' tion every brace and most of the rigging uas shot 
away. A few minutes after separating horn the 
Frolic both her masts fell upon the deck, the main- 
mast going close by the deck, and the lorc-mast 12 

or 15 feet above it. n i n- i 

The courage and exertions of the oilieers and 
crew fully answered my expectations and nn ishes. 
Lieutenant Biddle's active conduct contnbuted 
much to our success, by tlie exact attention paid to 
everv department during thc enga.L.^cment and the 
Sting example he afforded the crew by his ,n- 
Sityf Lieutenants Rodgers, Booth, and M. 

R 2 



( 198 ) 

Rapp, shewed by the incessant fire from their divi- 
sions, that they were not to be surpassed in resolu- 
tion or skill. Mr. Knight and every other officer, 
acted with a courage and promptitude highly honour- 
able, and I trust have given assurance that they may 
be relied on whenever their services may be requir- 
ed, 

I could not ascertain the exact loss of the enemy, 
as many of the dead lay buried under the mast and 
spars that had fallen upon the deck, which two hours* 
exertion had not sufficiently removed. Mr. Bid- 
die, who had charge of the Frolic, states, that from 
what he saw, and from information from the officers, 
the number of killed must have been about thirty, 
and that of the wounded about fort}^ or fifty — of the 
killed is her first lieutenant and sailing master, of the 
wounded captain Whinyates and the second lieu- 
tenant. 

We have five killed and five wounded, as per 
list ; the wounded are recovering. Lieutenant 
Clexton, who was confined by sickness, left his bed 
a little previous to the engagement, and though too 
weak to be at his division, remained upon deck, and 
shewed by his composed manner of noting its inci- 
dents, that we had lost by his illness the services of 
a brave officer, I am, respectfully, yours, 

JACOB JONES. 
The Hon, Paul Hamilton^ 
Secretary of the Navy, 



{ ^99 ) 

Letter from Commodore Decatur to the Secretary 

of the Navy. 
U. States' Ship ^United States^ 

at Sea, Oct, 30, 1812. 
Sir, 

I have the honour to inform you that on the 
25th instant, being in latitude 29 deg. N. and lon- 
gitude 29 deg. 50 min. W, we fell in with, and af- 
ter an action of an hour and a half, captured his 
Britannic majesty's ship Macedonian, commanded 
by captain John Garden, and mounting 49 carriage 
guns (the odd gun shifting.) She is a frigate of the 
largest class, two years old, four months out of 
dock, and reputed one of the best sailers in the Bri- 
tish service. The enemy being to windward had 
the advantage of engaging us at his own distance, 
which was so great, that for the first half hour we 
did not use our carronades, and at no moment was 
he within the complete effect of our musquetry or 
grape — to this circumstance and a heavy swell, 
which was on at the time, I ascribe the unusual 
length of the action. 

The enthusiasm of every officer, seaman, and ma- 
rine, on board this ship, on discovering the enemy 
— their steady conduct in battle, and precision of 
their fire, could not be surpassed. W^hcre all met 
my fullest expectations, it would be unjust in me 
to discriminate. Permit me, however, to recom- 
mend to your particular notice my first lieutenant, 
William H. Allen. He has served with mc up- 
wards of five years, and to his unremitted exertions 
in disciplining the crcw% is to be imputed the obvi- 
ous superiority of our gunnery ( xhibited in the 
result of this contest. 

Subjoined is a list of the killed and wounded on 
both sides. Our loss, compared with tiiat of the 



{ 200 ) 

enemy, will appear small. Amongst our wounded, 
you will observe the name of lieutenant Funk, who 
died a few hours after the action — he was an officer 
of great gallantry and promise, and the service has 
sustained a severe loss in his death. 

The Macedonian lost her mizen-mast, fore and 
main-top.masts and main yard, and was much cut 
up in her hull. The damage sustained by this ship 
was not so much as to render her return into port 
necessary, and had I not deemed it important that 
we should see our prize in, should have continued 

our cruise. 

With the highest consideration and respect, I am 
sir vour obedient humble servant, 

(Signed) STEPHEN DECATUR. 

Bon. Paul Hamilton^ ^c. 



Letter from Commodore Bainhridge to the Secreta- 
ry of the Navy. 
United States' Frigate Constitution, 

St. Salvadore.Jan. 3, 1812. 

Sir, , 

I have the honour to inform you, that on the 
29th ult. at 2, P. M. in south latitude 13 deg. 6 
min. and west longitude 38 deg. about ten leagues 
distance from the coast of Brazil, I fell in with and 
captured his Britannic majesty's frigate Java, of 49 
guns, and upwards of 400 men, commanded by cap- 
tain Lambert, a very distinguished officer. The ac- 
tion lasted one hour SS minutes, in which time the 
enemy was completely dismasted, not having a spar 
of any kind standing. The loss on board the Con- 
stitution was nine killed and 25 wounded. The 
enemy had 60 killed and 101 wounded certainly, 



( 201 ) 

(among the latter, captain Lambert mortally ;) but 
by the enclosed letter written on board this ship (by 
one of the officers of the Java,) and accidentally 
found, it is evident that the enemy's wounded must 
have been much greater than as above stated, and 
who must have died of their wounds previously to 
their being removed. The letter states 60 killed 
and 170 wounded. 

For further details of the action I beg leave to 
refer you to the enclosed extracts from my journal. 
The Java had, in addition to her own crew, upwards 
of 100 supernumerary officers and seamen to join 
the British ships of war in the East Indies ; also 
lieutenant-general Hislop, appointed to the com- 
mand of Bombay, major Walker and captain Wood 
of his staff, and captain Marshall^ master and com- 
mander in the British Navy, going to the East 
Indies to take command of a sloop of war there. 

Should I attempt to do justice by representation 
to the brave and good conduct of all my officers and 
crew, during the action I should fail in the attempt ; 
therefore, suffice it to say, that the whole of their 
conduct was such as to merit my highest encomi- 
ums. I beg leave to recommend the officers par- 
ticularly to the notice of government, as also the 
unfortunate seamen who were wounded, and the 
families of those brave men who fell in the action. 

The great distance from our own coast, and the 
perfect wreck we made the enemy's frigate, forbad 
every idea of attempting to take her to the United 
States, I had, therefore, no alternative I)ut burning 
her, which I did on the 3Ist ult. after receiving all 
the prisoners and their baggage, which was very 
tedious work, only having one boat left (out of 
eight,) and not one left on board the Java. 

On blowing up the frigate Java, I proceeded to 



^ 202 ) 

this place, where I have landed all the prisoners on 
their parole, to return to England and there remain 
until regularly exchanged, and not to serve in their 
professional capacities in any place or in any manner 
whatever against the U. States of America, until 
their exchange shall be effected. 

I have the honour to be sir, with the greatest 
respect, 

(Signed) W. BAINBRIDGE. 



Letter from captain Lawrence to the Secretary of 

the Navy, 
U, States* Ship Hornet ^ Holmes* Hole, 

March 19, 1813. 
Sir, 

I have the honour to inform you of the arrival 
at this port of the United States ship Hornet, under 
my command, from a cruise of 145 days ; and to 
state to you, that after commodore Bain! jridi^e left 
the coast of Brazil, January Gth, I continutd off the 
harbour of St. Sulvadore, blockading the Bonne 
Citoyenne, until the 24th, when the Montag-ue, 74, 
hove in sight and chased me into theharbovrr ; but 
night coming on, 1 wore and stood out to th south- 
ward. Knowing that she had left Rio Janeiro for 
the ex()ress purpose of relieving the Bonne Citoy- 
enne and the packet (which I had also blockaded 
for 14 days, and obliged her to send her mail to Rio, 
in a l^ortuguese smack,) I judged it most prudent 
to shift my cruising ground, and hauled by the wind 
to the eastward, with the view of cruising off Per- 
nambucco, and on the 4th of February, captured the 
English brig Resolution, of 10 guns, from Rio Ja- 
neiro, bound to Moranham, with coffee, jerked beef, 



(; 205 ); 

flour, fustic, and butter, and about 23,000 dollars 
in specie. As she sailed dull, and I could not spare 
hands to man her, I took out the money and set her 
on fire. I then ran down the coast of Moranham, 
and cruised there a short time ; from thcj.ce ran off 
Surinam. After cruising off that coast from the 
15th to the 22d of February, without meeting a 
vessel, I stood for Demarara, with an intention, 
should I not be fortunate on that station, to run 
through the West Indies, on my way to the United 
States. But on the 24th, in the morning, I disco- 
yered a brig to leeward, to which I gave chase — ran 
into quarter less four, and not having a pilot was 
obliged to haul off— the fort at the entrance of Dc- 
marara river at this time bearing S.W. distant two 
and a half leagues. Previous to giving up the chase 
I discovered a vessel at anchor without tlic bar, with 
English colours flying, apparently a brig of war. In 
beating around Carobana bank, in order to get at 
her, at half past 3, P. M. I discovered another sail on 
my weather quarter, edging down for us. At 20 mi- 
nutes past 4, she hoisted Enghsh colours, at \> hich 
time we discovered her to be a large man of war brig 
— beat to quarters, and cleared ship for action, and 
kept close to the wind, in order, if possible, to get 
the weather guage. At 10 minutes past 5, finding 
I could weather the enemy, I hoisted American co- 
lours, and tacked. At 25 minutes past 5, ni passing 
each other exchanged broadsides within hall pistol 
shot. Observing the enemy in the act of wearing, 
I bore up, received his starboard broadside, ran him 
close on board on the starboard quaner, and kepi up 
such a heavy and well directed fire, that in less than 
15 minutes he surrendered (^ being literally cut to 
pieces,) and hoisted an ensign, union down, from his 
' fore-rigging, as a signal of distress. Shortly alter 



her main-mast went by the board. Despatched 
lieutenant Shubrick on board, who soon returned 
with her first lieutenant, who reported her to be his 
Britannic majesty's late brig Pf ^o/^' 5°"^^ „^^ 
bv captain WiUiam Peake, who fell in the latter 
part of the action-that a number of her crew were 
killed and wounded, and that she was sinkmg last, 
having then six feet water in her ho d. Despatched 
the boats immediately for the wounded, and brought 
both vessels to anchor. Such shot holes as could 
be got at, were then plugged ; her guns thrown 
overboard, and every possible exertion used to 
keep her afloat, until the prisoners could >e reniov- 
ed, by pumping and bailing, but without effect, as 
S; unfortunately sunk in five and a half adioms 
water, carrying down 13 of her crew, and three of 
my bmve fellows, viz. John Hart, Joseph Wilhams, 
and Hannibal Boyd.-Lieutenant Conner, m.dsh^- 
man Cooper, and the remainder of W men^ ^'^- 
Soyed in removing the prisoners, with difficulty 
Sd themselves, by jumping into a boat that was 
Ivin? on her booms, as she went down. 

Four men of the 13 mentioned, were so fortu- 
nate as to gain the fore-top, and were afterwards 
taken off by the boats. Previous to her gomg down, 
four of her men took to her stern boat, that had 
been much damaged during the action, wno, 1 sin- 
cerely hope,' reached the shore m safety; but rom 
the heavy sea running at that time, the shattered 
state of the boat, and the difficulty ot landmg on the 
coast, I am fearful they were lost. I have not been 
able to ascertain from her officers the exact number 
killed. Captain Peake and four men were found 
dead on board. The master, one midshmman, 
carpenter, and captain's clerk, and 29 seamen were 
wounded ; most of them very seyerely, three ot 



( 205 ) 

whom died of their wounds after being removed, 
and nine drowned. Our loss was trifling in com- 
parison, John Place killed, Samuel Coulsan, and 
John Dalrymple, slightly wounded ; Gtorgc Coffin 
and Lewis Todd, severely burnt by the explosion 
of a cartridge. Todd survived only a few days. 
Our rigging and sails were much cut. One shot 
through the foremast : and the bowsprit slightly in- 
jured. Our hull received little or no damage. At 
the time I brought the Peacock to action, the L'Ks- 
piegle (the brig mentioned as being at anchor) 
mounting 16 two-and-thirty-pound carronadcs and 
two long nines, lay about six miles in shore of me, 
and could plainly see the whole of the action. Ap- 
prehensive that she would beat out to the assistance 
of her consort, such exertions were made by my 
officers and crew in repairing damages, &:c. that by 
9 o'clock my boats were stowed away, a new set of 
sails bent, and the ship completely ready for action. 
At 2, A. M. got under way, and stood by the wind 
to the northward and westward, under easy sail. 

On mustering next morning, found ^ve had two 
hundred and seventy-seven souls on board (includ- 
ing the crew of the American brig Hunter, of Port- 
land, taken a few days before by the Peacock.) As 
we had been on two-thirds allowance of provisions 
for some time, and had but 3400 gallons of water 
on board, I reduced the allowance to three pints a 
man, and determined to make the best of my way 
to the United States. 

The Peacock was deservedly styled one of l!ic 
finest vessels of her class in the Briti^,h navy. I 
should judge her to be about the tonnage of the 
Hornet, Her beam was greater by five inches ; but 
her extreme length not so great by four feet, bhc 
mounted sixteen 24.pound carronades, tAvo long 

S 



( 206 ) . 

nines, one twelve-pound carronade on her top-gal- 
lant forecastle as a shifting gun, and one four or six- 
pounder, and two swivels mounted aft. I find by 
her quarter bills, that her crew consisted of 134 
men, four of whom were absent in a prize. 

The cool and determined conduct of my officers 
and crew during the action, and their almost unex- 
ampled exertions afterwards, entitle them to my 
warmest acknowledgments, and I beg leave most 
earnestly to recommend them to the notice of gov- 
ernment. 

By the indisposition of lieutenant Stewart, I was 
deprived of the services of an excellent officer. — 
Had he been able to stand the deck, I am confident 
his exertions would not have been surpassed by any 
one on board. I should be doing injustice to the 
merits of lieutenant Shubrick, and acting-lieuten- 
ants Conner and Newton, were I not to recommend 
them particularly to your notice. Lieutenant Shu- 
brick was in the actions with the Guerriere and 
Java. Captain Hull and commodore Bainbridge can 
bear testimony to his coolness and good conduct on 
both occasions. 

I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient ser- 
vant, 

(Signed) JAMES LAWRENCE. 

Ho7u JViTi, JofieSf Secretary/ of the Navy. 

P. S. At the commencement of the action, my 
sailing master and seven men were absent in a prize: 
and lieutenant Stewart and six men on the sick list. 
As there is every prospect of the wind being to the 
eastward, in the morning I shall make the best of 
my way to New- York. 



( 207 ) 

Copy of a letter from Capt. Hull to the Secretary 

of the jXuvy. 

Portland, Sept, 7, 1813. 

Sir, — I had the honour last evening to forward 
you by express, through die hands of commodore 
Bainbridge, a letter I received from Samuel Storer, 
Esq. navy agent at this place, detailing an account 
of the capture of the British brig Boxer by the U. 
States brig Enterprise. 

I have now to inform )-ou that I left Portsmouth 
this morning, and have this moment arrived, and 
as the mail is closing, I have only time to enclose 
you the report of lieutenant M'Call of the Enter- 
prise, and to assure you that a statement of the sit- 
uation of the two vessels as to the damage they 
have received, &c. shall be forwarded as soon as 
surveys can be made. The Boxer has received 
much damage in her hull, masts, and sails, indeed 
it was whh difficulty slie could be kept afloat to get 
her in. The Enterprise is only injured in her masts 

and sails. 

I have the honour to be, S;c. 

ISAAC HULL. 

The Hon. TFm. Jones, Sec'ry of the Navy, 



United States' Brig Enterprise, 

Portland, Sept. 7, 1813. 
Sir —In consequence of the unfortunate deaUi 
of lieutenant commandant William Burrows, late 
commander of this vessel, it devolves on me to ac- 
quaint you with the result of our cruise. Atter sail- 
il,g from Portsmouth on the 1st n.stant we steered 
to the eastward ; and on the morning oi the od, utt 
Wood Island, discovered a schooner, which wc 



( 208 ) 

chased into this harbour, where we anchored. On 
the morning of the 4th, weighed anchor and swept 
out, and continued our course to the eastward. 
Having received information of several privateers 
being oft' Manhagan, we stood for that place ; and 
on the following morning, in the bay near Penguin 
Point, discovered a brig getting under way, which 
appeared to be a vessel of war, and to which w^e 
immediately gave chase. She fired several guns and 
btood for us, having four ensigns hoisted. After 
reconnoitring and discovering her force and the na- 
tion to which she belonged, we hauled upon a wind 
to stand out of the bay, and at 3 o'clock shortened 
sail, tacked and run down with an intention to bring 
her to close action. At twenty minutes after three, 
P. M. when within half pistol shot, the firing com- 
menced from both, and after being w^armly kept 
up, and with some manoeuvring, the enemy hailed, 
and said they had surrendered, about 4, P. M. their 
colours being nailed to the masts, could not be haul- 
ed dov^n. She proved to be his Britannic majesty^s 
brig Boxer, of 14 guns, Samuel Blythe, Esq. com- 
mander, \\ho fell in the early part of the engagement, 
having received a cannon shot through the body. 
And I am sorry to add that lietenant Burrows, 
who had gallantly led us to action, fell also about 
the same time by a musket ball, which terminated 
his existence in eight hours. 

The Enterprise suffered much in spars and rig- 
ging, and the Boxer both in spars, rigging, and hull, 
having many shots between wdnd and water. 

It would be doing injustice to the merit of Mr. 
Tillinghast, second lieutenant, were I not to men- 
tion the able assistance I received from him during 
the remiunder of the engagement, by his strict at- 
tention to his own division and other departments* 



( 209 ) 

And the officers and crew generally, 1 am happy to 
add, their cool and determined conduct have my 
warmest approbation and applause. 

As no muster roll that can be fully relied on has 
come into my possession, I canuotexacll\ slalc the 
number killed on board the Boxer, but Irom inlor- 
mation received from the officers of that vessel, it 
appears there were between twenty and twenty. five 
killed, and fourteen wounded. 

I have the honour to be, &:c. 

EDWAUD R. M'CALL, 

Senior Officer, 

Isaac Hull, Esq. comtnanding Naval 
Officer, on the Eastern Station. 



Copy of a letter from Isaac Hull, Esq. commandinfr 

Naval Officer on the station East of Portsmouth, 

Neiv-Hampshire. 

United States JSavij lard, 
Portsmouth, Sept. 14, 1813. 

Sir _I have the honour to forward you by the 
mail, the'flags of the late British brig Boxer which 
were nailed to her mast-heads at the time she was 
captured by the United States brig Lnterpriv.. 

Great as the pleasure is that I derive irom per- 
forming this part of my duty, 1 ijcd not tell you 
how ddF.rent mv feelings would have been, could 
the gallant Burrows have had th,s honour 

He w.nt into action most gallantlv, and the d f- 
ference of injury done die two vessels proves how 

vour obedient servant, I^^AAC HULL. 

'Hon. mn. Jones, Sec'rij ophe .\avy. 

b 2 



( 210 ) 

CONCLUSION. 

I cannot resist the inclination I feel to make room 
for an extract from another of Mr. Cobbeit's excel- 
lent letters to lord Castlercagh, on the late revolu- 
tion in France, hoping the reader may enjo\ the 
same delight on viewing a true statement of Euro- 
pean affairs as I have myself. In a country crouded 
with lying journalists, I cannot sufficiently admire 
one who exhibits the naked truth, although he has 
already suffered for so doing, two years imprison- 
ment and the forfeiture of a thousand pounds to 
the king of P^ngland. 

Peace ! Peace I 

TO LORD CASTLEREAGIL 

My Lord — THE grand event which has just 
taken place in France, and which is so well calcu- 
lated to convince all mankind of the folly as well as 
the injustice, of using foreign force for the purpose 
of dictating to a great nation who they shall have 
for their rulers, or what shall be the form of gov- 
ernment ; this grand event, instead of procuring 
such conviction in the minds of those persons con- 
nected with the London newspupers, magazines and 
reviews, who are called Cossack Writers ; so far 
from procuring such conviction in their minds, this 
grand event seems to have made them more eager 
than ever for interference in the domestic affairs of 
France ; and while the cries of our countrymen at 
New-Orleans are yet vibrating in our ears, these 
men are endeavouring to urge you and your col- 
leagues on to the sending of thousands upon thou- 
sands more of our men, and to expend hundreds 
of millions more of our money, in order to overset 



( ^11 ) 

a government which the French nation love, and te 
compel them to submit to one which ihcy hate, or 
at least, despise, from the bottom of their hearts, 
and with unanimity absokitcly unparalleled. 

My Lord, if my advice had been lollowed, wc 
should have had no American war ; the 20 or 
30,000 men, and the 50 or 60 millions of money, 
which that unfortunate war has cost us ; and which 
have only, as it turns out, created an American na- 
vy, and exalted the republic among the nations of 
the world, would all have been saved. The litera- 
ry Cossacks of London, were, 1 verily believe, the 
chief cause of war. They urged you and your 
colleagues on to the destruction of the ylmcrican 
FORM OF GOVERNMENT. Napoleon being, 
as they thought, down, never to rise again, they 
urged you to make war, till you had put do^vn 
James Madison^ and "delivered the world 
of the existence of that EXAMPLE of the suc- 
cess of DEMOCRATIC REBELLION." -Ab 
peace with Madison y^' wi\s their cry. Kill! kill! 
keep killing, till he is put down ! This was their 
incessant cry. And, in a short time after Napo- 
leon was exiled to the isle of Elba, these literary 
Cossacks published a paragraph, which they insert- 
ed in the report of the debates in the house of com- 
mons, as the report of the speech of sir Joseph 
Yorke, then and now one of the lords of the admi- 
ralty, in the following words : to wit — " Sir Joseph 
Yorke observed, that although one great enemy of 
this country, Bonaparte, had been deposed, there 
was another gentleman whose DETOSITION 
w^as only necessary to our interest ; he meant Mr. 
President Madison ; and with a view to that de- 
position, a considerable naval force must be kept 
up, especially in the Atlantic. But as to his hop- 



( 212 ) 

ourablc friend's opinion respecting the reduction of 
the navy, he wished it to be considered that a num- 
ber of shipping were employed in conveying French 
prisoners to France, and bringing home our own 
countrymen. So much for the occupation of the 
navy on the home station. But from the Medi- 
terranean, for instance, several three deckers were 
ordered home, and he could aver that no practical 
exenion would be remitted to reduce the expense 
of our naval department." 

With what shame ! — with what sorrow, would 
these writers, iCthey had not lost all sense of shame, 
and all feeling for their country, now look back on 
tlieir conduct, at the time to which 1 am referring ! 
Instead of feeling shame for that conduct, they are 
now acting the same part over again ; they are now 
reviving all iheir old calumnies against the emperor 
Napoleon ; they are abusing the French army and 
the French people ; they are bestowing on them 
appellations almost too infamous to be repeated; 
and they are calHng upon you and your colleagues 
to make a war of extermination upon that people, 
unless they will receive and adopttheruler and the 
government appointed, or pointed out by England. 
These men calkd Mr. Madison a TRAITOR and 
a RI1.BEL ; and they are now calling Napoleon 
a TRAITOR and a' REBEL. They called the 
Americans slaves, villains, thieves ; and with these 
appellations with many others, not excepting cow- 
ards^ they are now bestowing on the French people ! 
— They now see you and your colleagues have 
found it necessary to make a treaty of peace and 
amity with Mr. Madibon, whom they called a trai- 
tor and a rebel ; but, these men are of that descrip- 
tion of fools to whom experience cannot teach wis- 
dom, and they are now repeating their cry 710 peace 



( 213 ) 

xoith Xapoleon ; no peace till the Bourbons arc 
again on the throne of France : war w iih the French 
until they adopt a ruler in whom ive have confi- 
dence. 

l^JJter this introduction, the writer vjit/i /m usual 
acumen, expostulates with Lord Castlcrcai^h on the 
subject of a new French war.'\ 

But, my lord, long as this address to you alreudy 
is, there is one view of this impcndin;^ danger to 
which I must yet beg leave to call your serious at- 
tention. 

It is said that ** war will, as hitherto, favour our 
shipping and commercial interests, w hile our navy 
secures us the sovereignty of the seas^ And af- 
terwards it is said that our " manufactures will 
prosper with the continent of Europe and .hnerica 
open.'' 

Does not the very name of America, coupled 
with that of war in Europe, give rise to a thousand 
thoughts in the mind of your lordship '? Do you 
not see the rising navy in the mouths of the Sus- 
quehanna and Hudson ? In short, what English- 
man can look that way without alarm *? It is well 
known that our commerce and shipping, during 
the late war, were supported by the restrictions 
which our navy enabled us to impose on the com- 
merce and navigation of neutrals, and cspcci.'.lly on 
those of America. It is well known that, had we 
not claimed the sea as our own, and exercised our 
power accordingly, our commerce and naxigalion 
must have dwindled into a very small c omj)a5.s, 
and those of America would have swelled loan 
enormous size, while France, open to the shippmg 
and commerce of America, would have i xperienccd 
little injury from the po\\er of our navy. 



( 214 ) 

Well, then, is it to be believed, when we look 
at the progress and conclusion of the American war, 
that we shall again attempt those restrictions on her 
commerce and navigation ? This is not to be be- 
lieved ; and if we were to attempt them, is it to be 
believed that we should not find America a party 
in the war against us ? — The late event in France 
will excite in America joy unbounded, and espe- 
cially amongst those against whom the malicious 
shafts of the editors of our newspapers were level- 
led. When they hear these men describe Napo- 
leon as a " traitor and a rebel,'' they will recollect 
that the very same men described the President, 
their constitutional chief magistrate, as a " traitor 
and rebel'' and that they called upon his fellow- 
citizens, who had freely chosen him, to depose him 
and kill him. The Americans, my lord, are not to « 
be made to believe that Napoleon has forced him- 
self upon the French nation ; they are not to be 
made to believe that he has none but the army on 
his side ; they are not to be made to believe that he 
is merely at the head of *' « band of Janissaries ;" 
they are not to be made to believe that, with a mere 
handful of soldiers, he could have marched from 
Cannes to Paris, unless he had been the man of the 
people ; they are. not to be made to believe that the 
Bourbons would have fled from a throne and from a 
sovereignty over thirty millions of people, unless 
they had been convinced that the people wcvq on the 
side of Napoleon ; they are not to be made to believe 
all or any of these things, but they will see in this 
event a proof of the fact, of which fact some of them 
before doubted, that Napoleon reigns in virtue of 
the love and choice of the French nation. 

The American government will, for a while at 
least, be disposed to remain at peace with us ; but 



( 215 ) 

we may be well assured that it will never a,^aiii 
submit to any restrietions on its commeree and 
navigation, not warranted by the well known and 
universally aeknowledged laws of nations ; — and it 
w^ould not be at all surprising, if it should lean very 
strongly toward France, if we were to make war 
upon the latter for the purpose of dictating a gov- 
crmnent to her in direct opposition to her will, now 
so clearly declared. 

Here therefore, is a difficulty which we had not 
to contend with in the last war. — These prizes y 
which this writer holds out as a bait to our naval 
officers and their connections, would not be so nu- 
merous. Indeed they would be very few in num- 
ber The commerce of France would, to a great 
extent, be carried on in American ships. — America 
would be the carrier for both nations. The increase 
of her navigation, would signify nothing to France ; 
indeed France would rejoice at it, because it would 
be tremenduously dangerous to us. 

Let no flatterer persuade your lordslup, that the 
Americans are to be either ^vheedled or corrnpted, 
They love peace ; but they are n wise people, and 
they will well know that they m*ust provide for 
war. The last year has taught them that they must 
depend solely on their arms. They will remember 
the flames of Frcnchtown, Stoniiigton and Wash- 
ington. They will remember their sufferings from 
the hand of our Indian allies. I'hey will remember 
our considerins: their naturalized citizens as traitors. 



f 



CONCLUDING NOTE OF THE EDITOH. 



FROM the glimpse we have given of ihe religious and political 
delusion, and consequent misery, and degradation of the European 
population ; the free, enlightened, and independent American rea- 
der, may be inclined to pity, and despise the people who thus suf- 
fer themselv es to be degraded to beasts of burthen, by their Royal, 
Right Honourable, and Right Reverend Tyrants. They should in- 
deed be pitied, but not despised. Tears of compassion for them, 
atid tears of gratitude to God, should flow spontaneously from the 
eyes of every tree born American, when he beholds ihe deleterious 
clouds of error, whicJi the genius of smiling Liberty has for ever 
exterminated from his independent mind, but which she is prohi- 
bited, by the frowning spirit of despotism, from even attempting to 
exiciminate, from the debased minds of the wondering, cheated, 
king ridden, and priest ridden population of Euroj)e. While I piiy 
irom ray heart's core, those wretched and degraded millions, my 
breastswells with affection, gratitude and veneration for such men 
as Wdliam Cnbbett and Sir Fruncis Burdett, who have used their 
best and boldest endeavours to attenuate the miserable degradation, 
unt'.er wlacli they crouch> and have magnanimously endured the 
la.-n of despotism therefor, but that lash has not infiiced so bitter a 
pang, as ttie recollection that their patriotic labours and suHerings 
have all proved abortive. But let them he encouraged. The ray 
of pol t:cal light, they have displayed, will soon become a might/ 
flame — then, and not till then wdl a bold and valiaiit people break 
their epnemeral bonds and rise in all the majesty of their strength. 
Then will they think and wonder at the thought, that they were 
chanetl by local and l<)ng standing prejudices, as the giant Gulliver 
by the Lilliputians, whose bonds were as imperceptible as his 
enemies were diminutive. Then will they see the super-inhuman 
villainy of those weak and wicked worms of the earth, arrused in 
Royal purple and sacerdotal silk and cambrick, who ciicMmvent 
the mouth of labour, and cause the many to endure every privation, 
to exalt the few, and force th«ir fellow- men, contrary to their in- 
terest and inclination, to go forth to murder and be murdered, to 
gratify the pride of Aristocracy. What a pity, what a shame. 



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